Her Green Eyes
by HLecter511
Summary: She was adopted at a young age; she learned what her guardian wanted her to learn, whether it was history, fighting, or life itself; she gained friends; she gained an interest in someone, who expressed their interest in her and her emerald green color eyes; and now, she was being pulled in an adventure of a lifetime.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter:** Growing Up

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 **…** **..Year; 1900: …..**

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When she was four years old, she remembered her tiny hand being held by her ten year old older brother, standing in the foyer of an orphanage in Cairo, Egypt due to their mother's passing away, and there was no father in their life.

The orphanage housed about ten other kids that mostly got abandoned or their families couldn't give them the life they should have.

When days passed, she remembered how her older brother, Rick got snatched out of their bedroom in the early morning and then returned a couple hours later with bandage wrapped around his right wrist. When they snatched her next, she remembered the way that Rick yelled at them and even tried to fight them off, but they shoved him aside.

She remembered how she stared up at the orphanage owner and a few unknown faces, wondering what they were going to do to her. They started to ink a brand in her skin on her upper left shoulder. Tears welled up in her pale green eyes and she cried for her older brother.

The shouts of Rick were heard, but then a grunt and then nothing. When they stop branding her shoulder, she was put back in the room that Rick and her shared. She saw that Rick was knocked out on his bed. She had crawled into his bed and hugged him, keeping herself press as close as possible to him.

Then a couple of years passed.

When she was eight, Rick was fourteen, she was adopted.

That day had been the worst. Rick was her only family member and a very protective older brother. He tried to fight tooth and nail against everyone that held him back so he could reach her, but in the end, she was taken away in tears.

All she had with her was a small suitcase with a few belongings. Her precious items were a picture of Rick and her when she was five and he was eleven. The other item was a gold bracelet that Rick stole off a stand and gave to her. It had an emerald gem in it.

When she was adopted, she remained in Cairo, but she didn't have to roam around anymore or be treated with disrespect. Instead, her adoptive guardian made sure that she went through schooling and he even trained her how to defend herself.

Her new adoptive guardian was known as Dr. Terence Bey. He was the Curator for the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. It was a place that she came to enjoy spending time in, and she learned all about Ancient Egypt. She even helped Dr. Bey around the place.

At the age of thirteen, she found out that Dr. Bey had a secret.

One night she snapped awake to go to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. She did not pay any attention to her surrounding as she walked into the kitchen. She didn't realize that Dr. Bey had guests over.

"Althea, what are you doing up?"

Startle, she dropped the glass of water to whirl around to see Dr. Bey at the table with two men dressed in certain type of garbs. Garbs that made these men appear to be warriors of some sort that came from the desert. Garbs that were long black robes with gray sash around their waist to hold the robes together. They had black headdress wrapped around their heads and a cloth to go across their lower face, to protect from desert winds. What made her to stare was the facial tattoos of what appeared to be hieroglyphics across their forehead and cheeks. They also carried weapons.

"Getting water." Althea replied quickly, bowing her head.

"So this is the little one you took under your wing?"

A sigh escaped from Terence as he nodded.

"Yes, this is Althea O'Connell."

"Do not be harsh on the little one, Terence."

Althea lifted her head a little to peek through her long thick eyelashes at the man that spoke to Dr. Bey in a low mellow tone. When the man made eye contact with Althea, she gone wide eyes and bowed her head again, staring down at her bare feet.

A chuckle escaped the man.

"She has beautiful eyes. Never have I seen such pale green eyes before."

"Yes, yes, her eyes are unique. She's a rare gem." Terence whispered causing Althea to look up to stare at her adoptive guardian with widen pale green eyes.

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 **…** **.. Couple Years Later: …..**

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That particular night was where Althea learned that those men in the kitchen were known as Medjai and Dr. Bey was one of them.

After Althea learned about who those men were, she began to research about the Medjai. At times, she managed to get some historical information about the Medjai out of Dr. Bey. He was a contact for the Medjai from within the city, since he was a part of the Medjai too. Therefore, he had answers to her questions.

Althea had learned that the Medjai were warriors that devoted themselves to be protectors and guards of the City of the Dead, Hamunaptra and kept trespassers from entering. They kept a close watch on the city because they do not need anyone to steal treasures, but also, they prevented any rise of evil that might come from there. That made Althea to ask Dr. Bey about the evil and he gave her the story about the High Priest Imhotep. The Medjai made sure that the High Priest will not raise from the dead in the near future.

All the historical information was interesting to Althea. She continued to further gain knowledge about her surroundings and what Dr. Bey was involved in.

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At nineteen, Althea had met the Carnahan siblings.

There was the eldest boy, Jonathan and the younger sister, Evelyn. Their father was Howard Carnahan, who was an explorer and adventurer that had fallen in love with an Egyptian woman and they had Jonathan and Evelyn. From there, Howard explored Egypt while the children stayed behind. Both Evelyn and Althea made acquaintance with one another to become good friends.

Soon enough, Evelyn became an employer for Dr. Bey at the museum that Howard would donate anything he found on his expeditions.

As Althea and Evelyn became good friends, Althea took notice of how Jonathan, Evelyn's older brother, always got into trouble. Yet it had Althea to think about her older brother, Rick and wonder where he was.

Throughout the years, she tried to go back to the orphanage, but Dr. Bey always kept her away from there.

Finally one day, Evy and she had gone to the market, and snuck by the orphanage. Althea asked the new owner about records on Richard O'Connell. She received the news that Rick had run away from the orphanage at sixteen. That made Althea upset as he left without saying goodbye to her.

That same day she returned back home and Dr. Bey questioned her about why she was quieter than her usual smiling self.

"Just thinking of what the past was like once upon a time." Althea replied then left the room to leave a curious and confused Dr. Bey in his chair, behind his desk.

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 **…** **.. Year; 1924: …..**

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Years flew by and at the age of twenty-eight was when Althea met a new Medjai face on a stormy night.

It had been thundering outside, no rain. Lightning had been flashing throughout the warm and muggy night sky. The lightning lit up its surroundings with a bluish white glow.

There had been a cast of a shadow that past her bedroom window that made Althea to get up out of bed with a candlestick in her hands. She held it in front of her as if she carried a sword.

She passed the study room where Dr. Bey was observing some ancient scrolls, not even realizing what was about to happen.

Althea entered the kitchen with only the lightning flashing outside as her light. She hid behind the ice box as she watched the back door open and someone crept in slowly, shutting the door softly to make no sound.

When they turned around that was when Althea struck.

Throwing her arms down with the candlestick, the person reacted quickly and dodged out of the way. She swung again, but this time they caught the candlestick and yanked it out of her hands, tossing it behind them.

It clacker across the tiles floors and rolled underneath the wooden kitchen block island.

That made Althea to go into hand-to-hand combat, something that she was good at more than fighting with a sword.

Quickly, she swung her leg out to kick them into the ribs area, but they blocked her leg with their forearms. They staggered a bit then fell back into the wall when she slammed her foot into their stomach.

Seeing her coming at them with a punch, they soon blocked her punch and broke her momentum apart to then shove her back. The person then went onto the offensive, swinging making her to block with her forearms and duck down to tackle them into the mid-section.

Though whoever this person was, Althea could feel that they were solid muscle and tall. For she soon felt arms wrapped around her and lifted her off her feet, throwing her to the side of them. She slammed onto her back with a groan, but quickly did a backwards roll when they tried to step on her.

Getting onto her feet, she whirled around on her left foot to kick them across the head, but they blocked then quickly grabbed her foot. She hopped around until she jumped up and kicked out with her other foot across their face.

Landing back onto her feet in a low crouch, Althea stood up in time for them to swing out with a backhand. She backbend into the kitchen counter behind her where she bumped into the pot of flour. Reaching behind her, she opened the top of the flour pot and tossed it forward into the person's face causing them to spit and cough at the flour coating them.

Althea charged them once again and tackle the person to the floor. They began rolling around until Althea found herself on the bottom when the person got the upper hand by their strength. They were pressing their forearm into her chest to hold her down while leaning close to stare her down.

Before either could say anything, the lights to the kitchen turned on.

"What in the world are you two doing?"

Standing in the doorway of the kitchen was a wide eyes Dr. Bey. His mouth dropped as he stared at the two figures tangled up with one another on the kitchen floor with flour all over them and the floor.

"I'm attacking the intruder." Althea bent her head back to stare at Dr. Bey upside down.

"Intruder? Althea this is Ardeth Bay. He's a Medjai and also the new chieftain."

That got Althea to go wide eyes and mouth to drop now. She lower her head back slowly to stare up at the man that she attacked. Seeing the familiar black robes, the weapons and when he pulled the scarf from around his face, she saw the tattoos on his forehead and cheeks.

"Oh shoot."

"Indeed." Ardeth replied with amusement in his eyes.

That emotion threw Althea off as she didn't think that Ardeth would be amused by her. That he should be angry instead since she attacked him and covered him in flour.

"Let me go get something to clean you two up." Dr. Bey mumbled.

Pushing off Althea, Ardeth helped her up into an upright position.

Althea kept her head bowed in embarrassment for her actions toward Ardeth.

"You fight well. You move and recover fast."

Her eyes flicker up to see that Ardeth tilted his head a bit to the side to make her look up and not bow her head. Lifting her head up, she stared into his dark brown eyes. For Althea to say that Ardeth wasn't attractive would be a huge lie. For the Medjai before her was a handsome man that appeared to be around her age, or a few years older.

Althea took in the sight of the Medjai in front of her to see the usual attire that they wore. Tattoos that were on Ardeth's forehead and cheeks. His skin was naturally tan, but the amount of time spent out patrolling the Sahara desert and protecting the City added more. Then his dark brown eyes reminded Althea of chocolate. Dark brown almost shoulder length wavy hair and a matching dark goatee that fit him appearance perfectly. He was a good height of six feet one or two inches and he was slender yet built in muscles from training and fighting.

"Dr. Bey didn't just teach me how to read, write and make discoveries." Althea replied in a soft tone, her hands clasped in front of her.

"No, I could see that." Ardeth said with a peak of interest in his dark eyes as he had never fought a woman before.

They stood in silence until Althea cleared her throat then bowed her head to him.

"I'm going to return to bed. Dr. Bey will be with you shortly to help clean the flour off you. If you excuse me, but also, I am sorry for attacking you." Althea told him quickly as she felt her face flustering up again as she felt Ardeth eyes still on her.

The man made her nervous, not only because he good looking, but he was a Medjai chieftain. One that she had fought against until stopped.

A hand came around her wrist before she could make it out of the kitchen.

"Wait."

She waited with her back turned to him.

"Can you look at me?"

Slowly, Althea turned her body halfway to stare down at his hand that held her wrist then back up at him. He soon let go of her wrist making her to already miss the warmth of his skin and the feeling it sent tingling throughout her body.

"So it is true? Your eyes are unique."

"Is my eyes talked about?"

"My father was here a few times and one time he mentioned about a little girl that Dr. Bey took in. A girl with pale green eyes that reminded him of the lightest color emerald stone, almost the color of a jade stone. Eyes that stare right through. I believe him now." Ardeth explained lowly as his eyes searched her own to take them in then he refocused to staring at her as a whole.

His explanation got her to fluster up as he spoken in a way of admiring. As if knowing how he spoke and why he held her up, Ardeth cheeks appeared to begin turning a light pink.

"Here you go." Dr. Bey came in with a bowl of water and a couple clothes.

When he set it onto the table and turned to face the two young adults, he eyed between the two as he saw how they stared at one another.

"Did I miss or interrupt something?"

"Nope. Goodnight." Althea said immediately, waving then speed walked out of the kitchen and out of sight.

Once she was gone, Ardeth cleared his throat and turned to face Dr. Bey with a small smirk.

"How about that water?"

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **So, the final result on the POLL was an Ardeth/OC story for the Mummy/The Mummy returns. So here it is.**

 **I apologize ahead of time if there is/was information wrong.**

 **I also apologize for the couple time hops. I just wanted to get through the years and showed what was going on throughout those years in small summaries.**

 **Also, as a heads up, the story will change to RATED M when Chapter 12 is posted.**

 **Disclaimer for this chapter and future chapters:** **I do not own anything about** ** _'The Mummy/The Mummy Returns'_** **Series. However, I do own my original character, Althea.**

 **Please Review, Follow, and/or Favorite!**

 **Enjoy the Story!**

 **Thank You!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter:** Emerald Teardrop

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… **.. A Few Weeks Later: …..**

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As the days turned into weeks, the night that Althea met Ardeth Bay, was the start of something. She continued to see him more and more around the museum that it became common.

Ardeth was two years older than her and the new chieftain of his tribe. He was always coming in to gather information from Dr. Bey, instead of sending someone to get the information for him. Ardeth found the pleasure to come himself.

Althea was putting books away, pushing the sliding ladder across the bookshelves to one end to another, and sliding books back into place. Once the task was done, she moved down the ladder to make her way over to the cart that held a couple more books that need to be put away. As Althea stepped up to the cart, a figure moved in her peripheral vision that caused her to whirl around with alertness, but relaxed at who it was.

"Ardeth."

"Althea." Ardeth bowed his head to her.

"Looking for Dr. Bey?"

"Yes."

"Last time I checked with him, he was going through scrolls and putting them on display toward the back of the museum." Althea informed Ardeth as she moved by him to turn down an aisle.

"Thank you, Althea." Ardeth said from behind her causing her to whirl around and her eyes narrow on him.

"You walk way too silently."

"A Medjai is taught to do so." Ardeth told her as he watched her put the books away then she faced him.

"Aren't you supposed to find Dr. Bey?"

"I wanted to ask you how are you?"

Althea blinked slowly at him then looked away to see Evy walk into the room with stacks of scrolls piled up in her arms. Behind her was Jonathan, waving a bottle of alcohol around, rambling about some random nonsense like always. When Althea turned back to Ardeth, she saw him step back into the shadows that the bookshelves gave off. He hid from the sight of the siblings.

"I'm doing fine. I am just working as usual and helping Dr. Bey with reorganizing the place." Althea whispered to him since he was hiding from Evy and Jonathan.

"Good. I must go now." Ardeth turned away from her to begin to walk toward the back of the museum.

"How has your days been going?"

Ardeth paused and turned halfway around to stare at her with raised eyebrows. Althea crossed her arms over her chest and leaned heavily on her right foot with a tilt of her head.

"It's only fair for me to ask you, right?" Althea told him.

"Yes, yes it's only fair. I have been doing well."

"You have been coming here a lot lately. Frequently may I add."

"There's much that I need to know about what goes on within Cairo."

"Does this have anything to do with a lot of trespassers going to the City of the Dead lately?"

"How did you know? Did you hear someone whispering about ideas to go?" Ardeth stepped up to her, his eyes searching hers.

"No, but I know that your warriors and you protect the City. Then Dr. Bey teaching me some information lessons about the Medjai. I put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure that there has to be things going on around the City that you are guarding for you to come here more than usual." Althea explained with slight raised eyebrows.

"You're correct on your pieces of the puzzle coming together. More people have been appearing, more than usual."

"People want to make discoveries."

"And that is when we step in." Ardeth said as he stepped closer to her and reached out with his right hand to touch the back of Althea's left shoulder.

The outfit that Althea was wearing was a black knee length pencil skirt, white sleeveless three button up blouse and a black cardigan over that. Yet she had taken the cardigan off because the museum air felt a bit stuffy.

His fingertips touched the back of her left shoulder where the tattoo of the Medjai symbol was on her left shoulder blade. Ardeth caught sight of it a week ago and question Dr. Bey about it. Ardeth learned that Althea had it branded on her when she was just a young child. It shocked Ardeth that Althea would be branded with the mark, but he noted that it had an extra mark beside it. A hieroglyphics that symbolized 'heal.' To Ardeth, he found it a bit odd, but then Dr. Bey pointed out that Althea's name meant, 'to heal.' For that fact, it made Ardeth to believe that Althea was supposed to be some type of healer amongst them. Or was it coincidence that her name matched the small symbol signaling 'heal' on her back.

Althea eyes widen a little when Ardeth touched the tattooed mark, showing that he knew about the Medjai brand on her back. Ardeth gave her a small grin that made her to loosen up as she could see that he meant no harm to her.

"Althea, you around?" Evy called out from somewhere in the room.

"Coming." Althea called in return as she looked behind her to make sure that Evy wasn't coming to look for her.

Turning back to face Ardeth, he slowly took his hand off Althea back and took away the warmness that he gave off.

"See you again, Althea."

"See you later, Ardeth." Althea nodded, and turned on her heels to walk away from him.

Ardeth stood in the aisle of the bookshelves, watching Althea walk away. Parts of the Medjai brand on her back peeked out from underneath her top.

"She's an interesting one. Father was right." Ardeth whispered with a smirk then turned on his heels to walk further into the museum to seek out Dr. Bey to talk.

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… **.. Two Years Later: …..**

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In a couple of days, she would be turning thirty. Althea still worked at the antique museum as Dr. Bey assistant alongside Evy.

The two women had been doing a lot of work as of late, especially with new artifacts coming in as more and more explorers and researchers had been coming into the area to do research. Those that lived around the area, sometimes politely donated to the museum to keep the artifacts in safe hands, away from treasure hunters.

Carrying a clipboard with papers of information about the new arrival of ancient statues, Althea was heading toward the small filing room to file away the information. As she moved around the dim lit museum, Althea felt as if eyes were on her.

Moving through a thin alleyway of bookshelves and turning around a corner, Althea whipped the clipboard out to smack whatever came near her only to have her right wrist grasped and her back to be pressed gently up against a bookshelf.

"I swear one of these days I am going to actually hit you good."

"Hello to you too, Althea."

Althea pale green eyes narrowed and the corner of her lips twitched up, trying to hold back the amusement as she was staring at a smirking Ardeth Bay.

"I'm debating whether or not to buy you a bracelet with a bell on it." Althea said, staring up at him as he was almost pressing up against her.

For the past two years of getting to know one another, there had been clear tension between the two. Not in an argument or get into a fight sort of way, but rather, neither one would make the first move to on each other.

"As I tell you, Medjai have to be silent when we sneak up on our enemies." Ardeth told her as he let go of Althea wrist to hold his hand up with his pointer finger up to point out his fact.

"True, but I am not your enemy." Althea reached up to poke Ardeth on the nose causing his nose to twitch under her touch.

"That is true. Though I have to say that your alertness and senses are very good." Ardeth grinned.

"And your reaction is good too."

"You help me sharpen them up with you trying to swing at me every time."

"Well, don't sneak up on me and we won't have that problem."

"Then how will I ever train." He said jokily causing Althea to place her hands on his chest and shove him back a little to allow room between them.

"I think that you can figure out a way." Althea told him as she walked away from him, shooting him a grin over her left shoulder as she enter the small filing room.

Entering the room after her, Ardeth leaned against a file cabinet as he watched Althea talk to herself in a low tone. She was trying to figure out where the paperwork that she had in her hands supposed to go.

"So tell me, are you here to see Dr. Bey?"

"Yes."

"Is this about you reporting about seeing trespassers at the City or if we know anything about trespassers that could be entering the City as of late?"

"Both."

Althea nodded her head and pressed her hands against the file cabinet to push the cabinet shut. She turned to face Ardeth, and lean her back against the front of the file cabinets. Althea crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side, waiting for Ardeth to inform her more about the reason he came here for.

As of late, Dr. Bey had been keeping Althea presence in the room with Ardeth and him. Dr. Bey would talk about any sort of news that he had heard or Ardeth would inform them to keep a look out for so and so. The reason for Althea to listen in on these conversation was to get her more involved, since in a way, she was Dr. Bey's heir and was the one to take over when he could do this no more.

"There has been rumors that an expedition will be happening to the City. I came here to ask if Dr. Bey or you had heard anything more about this information, especially about who was traveling."

Althea pushed off the filing cabinets to walk out of the room to start to walk into the direction of the stairs to go to the next floor where Dr. Bey's office was located.

"I did overhear someone saying that Egyptologist Dr. Allen Chamberlain was going to be present with Americans." Althea answered Ardeth as the two walked down the hallways that looked out at the busy Cairo streets and markets.

"Where did you hear this?"

"Oh, I sort of got dragged by Jonathan with Evy to this bar. Sat next to drunken men that were having a poker game going on and gossiping." Althea informed Ardeth, walking around a corner.

Althea was halted as a hand wrapped around her left forearm to tug her back to face Ardeth. Her widen eyes shot up to meet Ardeth eyes, where Althea saw him stare down at her with seriousness.

"I understand that you are starting to learn the ways of how Dr. Bey is a contact person, but I wish for you to not go in such places for that sort of information."

"Ardeth, I was with Jonathan and Eve."

"But around drunken men?"

She searched Ardeth's eyes to see the seriousness on his face, and his eyes told a different story of emotions. There was a mixture of concern and what appeared to be jealousy in his chocolate brown eyes.

Althea rested her free hand on his hand that gripped her forearm, giving his hand a small tenderly squeeze. She watched his expression to soften, especially as she was giving him an understanding and reassuring grin.

"You have to trust me, Ardeth."

The chocolate brown eyes were hidden behind the eyelids as Ardeth shut his eyes, and let out a low, but long exhale from his mouth. He reopen his eyes and gave her a small nod.

Ardeth knew that he had to trust and put faith in Althea, to let her know that she could do this. She was the future contact when Dr. Bey could not be the contact anymore. Yet, the thought of Althea around the presence of men, especially in the bar atmosphere that she was in, Ardeth felt himself become concern but also, jealous. Jealous at the fact that men talked to her and she talked back in order to gain information.

The emotions began to become too much, which caused Ardeth to give his mind a mental shake. He knew that Althea was not the type of woman that would use herself to get information out of people. Ardeth knew that Althea was the type of woman that had the personality of being kindhearted yet determine. She drew people in due to her personality.

The two let go of each other after a moment without anymore words exchange. Althea resumed in the walk, leading Ardeth down the hallway to Dr. Bey's office. Ardeth stopped her once again before they could enter into Dr. Bey's office.

"Is something wrong?"

"Your birthday is in two days. I do not know if we are to see each other during that time, but I wish to give you a gift."

"What? A gift? Ardeth you did not have to do that." Althea held her hands up, shaking them at him as she was surprise that he got her a gift for her birthday.

"I had also dropped off a small box of honey cakes, or as you call them, fold over pie from my maman."

"Oh, I love your mother's cooking. What's the filling this time?"

"I believe she said it was apples and nuts."

Althea mouth became watery at the thought of the sweets that Ardeth brought her. The day that she tried sweets from his mother, Nahla, Althea made sure to inform Ardeth to inform his mother that she made wonderful sweets, and continue to make them.

"She wishes you a happy birthday."

"Sweet woman."

"And I wish to give you this from me." Ardeth pulled out a box from within his robes, holding the small black box out for her to accept.

Althea reached out to take the box from Ardeth with a small grin on her lips. She glanced up at him and saw how Ardeth stared around the room, other than her. His hands were clasped behind his back and he kept himself preoccupied with their surroundings while she open his gift.

A gasp escaped Althea once she had pulled the cover to the box off and she saw what was inside.

"Ardeth, this must've costed a good amount."

"Do not worry about it."

"But—" Althea stop speaking when Ardeth held his hand up for her to say no more.

With gentleness, Althea picked the necklace out of the box.

The chain was sturdy, and a chain that could withstand harsh treatment. What caught her eyes the most was the emerald crystal teardrop that hung from the necklace.

Althea held the necklace high enough for the sunlight beaming through the window to hit the necklace. The emerald crystal teardrop glowed. A smile was on Althea's lips the whole time as she gazed at the necklace, and not realizing that Ardeth was staring gently at her.

"Will you help me put it on?" Althea asked bravely.

The air felt thicker than usual and it was obvious to the two. It was painfully obvious the tension between the two, especially when Ardeth would seek her out to speak with her or he would check in on her.

"Of course." Ardeth answered.

He took the necklace from her and waited until Althea turned her back to him. She lifted her long wavy dark brown hair away from her neck to allow him to put her necklace on.

The necklace was clasped together, and Ardeth made a bold move by brushing his fingertips against the back of her neck. He stepped back as she dropped her hair and turned to face him, her eyes holding curiosity for his action.

Those green eyes of Althea's lured him in. He felt himself step closer to her, needing to inform Althea something that has bene bugging him. He knew that he need to take action now.

"Althea, there is something that I wish to discuss with you."

"Oh? What is that?"

"I wish to—" Ardeth did not say anymore as the door to Dr. Bey's office swung open.

In the doorway stood Dr. Bey, who was glancing between Althea and Ardeth with a curious look.

"Why is it that I always catch you two like this?"

"I don't know." Althea shrugged her shoulders.

Ardeth found himself shrug his shoulders too.

Dr. Bey shook his head and took a step back to allow Ardeth and Althea into his office, shutting the door softly behind them.

The whole time in the office, Ardeth and Althea would sneak glances at each other without the other knowing.

The emerald crystal teardrop was glistening above Althea's cleavage, perfectly contrasting against her light tan skin, and matching her unique green eyes.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was a new chapter!**

 **Please Review, Follow, and/or Favorite!**

 **Enjoy the story!**

 **Thank You!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter:** A Key

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 **…** **.. A Couple Days Later: …..**

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Althea was carrying books into the library section of the museum. She carried the books over to a cart where other books were stacked, ready to be put back on the bookshelves. Most of the books on the cart were ones that need to be place on the highest part of the bookshelves too.

When Althea set the books down on the cart, she looked up to watch Evy balance herself on a thin wood ladder that wheeled back and forth across the bookshelves. Evy, the librarian of the library and artifacts in the room was aiming to become an Egyptologist. At the moment, she was shoving books into the higher shelves so quickly that she would sometimes lose her balance.

"Are you sure that you don't want to switch spots for a while, Evy?"

"Oh, I got it, Althea. Don't you worry." Evy smiled down and lean back on the ladder, but let out a yelp as she almost fell backwards but she caught herself.

Althea could only shake her head and turn away to go find more books that were out of place in the library.

There were creaking sounds from the ladder that Evy was on. She was talking to herself about the book, and the ladder creaking more than usual. Althea turned around to check on Evy, but froze as she saw that Evy lean back to put a book away in the bookshelf behind her. The bookshelf behind her was a good distance away, and Althea knew by the sound of the ladder creaking louder that Evy was pushing it.

Althea shook her head and turned back around to resume in what she was going to do since she witnessed Evy do this sort of move before on the ladder.

"OH!"

Althea whirled around to go wide eyes at the sight. She watched as Evy balanced the ladder on two legs, clenching the top of the ladder with a white knuckles.

"Oh! Help! Oh!"

Before Althea could take a step forward to go help Evy, Evy and the ladder fell forward. The ladder hit the bookshelf, which caused the bookshelf to tip over and hit the next bookshelf, and then the next and the one after that.

All Althea could do was stand in the middle of the room, watching with wide eyes and mouth agape as bookshelf after bookshelf were falling down like dominos.

Evy came to stand beside Althea and watched as the last bookshelf fell on top of another bookshelf. Through the whole room, all the bookshelves were down and books were everywhere.

"Oh no." Althea whispered as she heard the sound of feet coming toward the library.

"Oops." Evy pulled her reading glasses off her face.

"What—How—How?" Dr. Bey appeared on top of one of the bookshelves.

Althea bit her tongue, but her eyes flicker to Evy, who brought her hand up to her mouth with a guilty expression.

"Oh, look at this! Sons of the pharaohs! Give me frogs! Flies! Locusts! Anything but you." Dr. Bey pointed straight at Evy as he knew that Althea wouldn't had caused such a chaotic scene.

There was no doubt that Dr. Bey was harsh on Evy at times, but it was because Evy was an ambitious woman that always liked to do things that no one would expect anyone to do. She was very independent, and she was the type of person that did actions first and ask questions later. She was more of somebody that jumped into something without analyzing the possibilities that could happen due to her actions.

"Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!"

"I am so very sorry. It was an accident." Evy told him quickly.

"My darling girl, when Ramses destroyed Syria that was an accident. You, you're a catastrophe! Look at my library! Why do I put up with you?" Dr. Bey waved his hands around to Evy and then at the library.

Althea eyes widen a little as she saw how annoyed and angry Dr. Bey was due to the condition of his library. When he got into these ways, he said many things that he did not mean, but he would say them to get a point across and to make sure it stung.

"Well, you put up with me because, um, because I can, um, I can read and write ancient Egyptian, and I can—I can decipher hieroglyphics and hieratic, and well, I am the only person within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and catalog this library, that's why." Evy explained, waving her hands toward the bookshelves on the ground with scrolls and books everywhere.

"I put up with you because your father and mother were our finest patrons. That's why. Allah rest their souls. Now, I don't care how you do it, I don't care how long it takes, straighten up this meshiver! Althea you help."

"Yep." Althea nodded, not going to argue with the angry Dr. Bey.

As Dr. Bey left the room, there was a sound of moment in the exhibition room. The exhibition room contained many artifacts that were found out in the pyramids and areas throughout the desert.

"Hopefully someone not in here that is being deviant." Althea whispered to Evy.

They had a few incidents where peopled tried to steal from the museum.

"Indeed." Evy whispered.

The two walked side by side with each other, but they paused in the doorway of the large exhibition room.

"Hello?" Evy said.

There was a few thuds deeper into the dim lit room. Evy grabbed one of the torches that one of the few statues hold.

Together, Evy and Althea got themselves ready for anything that may jump out at them.

"Abdul?" Evy called gently.

There was no replies, only Evy's voice echoing through the room.

"Mohammed? Bob?" Evy began to list off names.

There was another thud, one that was louder and closer.

Althea had whirled around to stare at one of the open sarcophagus that showed a body of a mummy inside. Althea tapped Evy on the shoulder causing Evy to look at Althea, who was simply pointing at the open sarcophagus where another thud came from.

The two clenched each other forearms as they stepped closer and closer to the sarcophagus before they both peek inside.

The decomposed body of the mummy shot up, and there was a high pitch screeching sound that caused Evy and Althea to scream and hold onto each other. Though their screaming slowly came to a stop when the two heard laughter. Jonathan, Evy's old brother popped up in the sarcophagus, laughing his ass off.

"Are you kidding me, Jonathan?" Althea hissed with a glare.

Whenever it came to Evy's older brother Jonathan, he was what many would call a ladies man, and someone who would do anything to get himself rich. All he really cared about was money, ladies, and alcohol. Evy was the complete opposite as Evy cared about was learning, and she had more responsibility than Jonathan. Jonathan liked to pull pranks, show off his dry humor and had a laid back attitude that irked many people.

"Have you no respect for the dead?" Evy snapped at Jonathan as she moved to the end of the sarcophagus to place the torch in a stand.

"Of course I do. But sometimes, I'd rather like to join them." Jonathan moved the skeleton arm around and then dropped it to wrap his arm around the mummy's shoulder as if they were buddies.

Althea rolled her eyes as she could only imagine what Dr. Bey would do if he saw Jonathan in this predicament. When it came to Jonathan doing stunts like these, Dr. Bey literally turned so red in the face that he would begin to start turning purple at times. Althea couldn't blame her guardian because Jonathan was a pain in the ass.

"Well, I wish you would do it sooner rather than later, before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours." Evy said, glaring at Jonathan.

"Now get out." Evy snapped, slapping Jonathan in the face yet that didn't faze him one bit as this was nothing new to him.

"My dear, sweet, baby sister. I'll have you know that at this precise moment my career is on a high note." Jonathan climbed out of the sarcophagus, and almost particularly falling out of it.

"Had a few?" Althea mumbled causing Jonathan to look at her with a drunk, dreamy look.

"Oh, Althea, didn't see you there. Beautiful, green eyes, Althea. Yes, I did have a few. Though I can still comprehend how attractive you are."

Althea rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and ignored Jonathan, but smirked when Evy smacked him again to make sure his attention was back on her.

"High note, ha! Oh, Jonathan, please, I'm really not in the mood for you. I've just made a bit of a mess in the library, and—and the Bembridge scholars have rejected my application form again. They say I don't have enough in the field." Evy explained, dropping herself to sit on a platform of a large stone statue.

Once Althea heard the whole statement from Evy, she could now understand why Evy was a bit crazier than usual. Althea eyes flickered to Jonathan as he knelt down in front of Evy and grabbed hold of her hands with a small grin on his lips.

There was one thing that was good about Jonathan that Althea knew was true. Jonathan treated his little sister Evy in the best way that he could. He made sure that she got what she wanted one way or another, or tried to make her happy.

"You'll always have me, old mum." Jonathan told her as he bumped his forehead against hers causing Evy to smile with a small laugh.

"Besides, I have just the thing to cheer you up." Jonathan said, standing up and moving back to the sarcophagus to begin to dig inside it to find whatever he left in there.

"Oh, no, Jonathan not another worthless trinket. If I have to take one more piece of junk to the curator to try and—" Evy paused as Jonathan held out this weird box shaped piece that appear to be made out of gold or some type of bronze material.

Althea moved to the other side of Evy to stare at the piece that was in Jonathan's hand. There were various detailed designs across the octagon shaped box with hieroglyphics on it.

"Sell for you—Where did you get this?" Evy whispered as she took the box from Jonathan's hand to begin to turn it this way and that with curiosity.

Althea stared closely to see that there were lines on top of the box as if it was supposed to open.

"On a dig down in, uh, Thebes. My whole life I've never found anything, Evy. Please tell me I've found something." Jonathan pleaded.

When Evy turned the key a certain way and placed her fingers on various section of the box, she pressed her fingers in and that was when the box open up to show a folded up, old papyrus inside.

Althea leaned closer to eye how the box was open now with eight pointed sides sticking out. She wonder if there was more to this box other than containing a note inside.

"Jonathan."

"Yes?"

"I think you found something." Evy said.

"Maybe we should show this to Dr. Bey before we get more into this." Althea said quickly as she watched how Evy pulled out the papyrus that unfolded into a long strip of the ancient paper.

The three of them jogged through the museum, upstairs and down the hallway to burst into Dr. Bey's office. The older man jumped in his seat and stared at the three of them as if they all had more than one head.

"What's the meaning of this?"

Evy walked on forward to begin to explain about the find and she handed the papyrus over to Dr. Bey, who opened the papyrus up to show a color illustration. The papyrus was in good shape, as the colors were in tact and not faded.

As she stood nearby, Althea stared at the illustrations on the papyrus, and she had to hold back a gasp as she realized that the illustration was actually a map. A map that showed the City of the Dead. This was the City that the Medjai with Dr. Bey were trying to keep trespassers out of.

"You see the cartouche there? It's the official royal seal of Seti I, I'm sure of it." Evy walked around the table to point out what she said.

"Perhaps." Dr. Bey replied lowly, trying to keep himself compose and not to expose the fact that the already knew.

"Two questions. Who the hell was Seti I, and was he rich?" Jonathan asked, stepping on the other side of Dr. Bey with one of his charming smiles whenever he thought of becoming rich.

Althea sat herself down in one of the chairs in front of Dr. Bey's desk. She crossed her right left over her left and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes flickered between the two siblings on either side of Dr. Bey, who was still eyeing the illustrations very closely.

"He was the second pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, said to be the wealthiest pharaoh of them all." Evy explained excitedly.

The way that Evy began to explain anything about ancient Egypt brought such an excitement in her that it lit up her whole appearance. Evy's eyes would twinkle with appreciation for the ancient times, and she had great passion in her voice. Althea knew that Evy would make a great Egyptologist; if only her application form would be accepted.

"Good. That's good. I like this fellow. I like him very much." Jonathan moved away from the desk with his hands on his hips and a greedy look in his eyes.

"I've already dated the map. It's almost 3,000 years old. And if you look at the hieratic just here, well, it's Hamunaptra." Evy pointed across the illustration at the piece where it was a map showed description and information of the City.

"Dear God, don't be ridiculous. We're scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra's a myth told by ancient Arab storytellers to amuse Greek and Roman tourists." Dr. Bey set the magnified glass onto the table and lean back in his seat to stare at Evy as he said this.

Although Dr. Bey did glance over at Althea in a quick manner. She bowed her head and kept her mouth shut as she did not wan to make any sort of implication that she knew about Hamunaptra and no one was to know about it.

"Yes, I know all the silly blather about the City being protected by the curse of a mummy nonsenses, but my research has led me to believe that the City itself may have actually existed." Evy explained with a hundred percent confidence in her tone.

"Are we talking about the Hamunaptra?" Jonathan asked, making sure that he heard correctly.

"Yes. The City of the Dead, where the earliest pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt." Evy answered as she stepped around Dr. Bey seat, but clenched the top of it as she stared at Jonathan, who moved from his spot.

"Yes, yes, in—in a big, underground treasure chamber."

There was an amused cough that came from Dr. Bey, which caused Jonathan to whirl around to stare at the older man with a look of shock.

"Oh, come on. Everybody knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand on Pharaoh's command. A flick of the switch, and the whole place would disappear beneath the sand dunes, taking the treasure with it."

The whole time that Jonathan was explaining parts of the story, Dr. Bey was pretending to be moving the map closer to the flame of the candle to read the map better. Though Althea knew better. She knew that Dr. Bey was trying to burn the map so that no one, such as Evy and Jonathan, could go to Hamunaptra, which was indeed real and not a myth, but of course they would not know that.

"As the Americans would say, it's all fairy tales and hokum—Oh, my goodness! Look at that." Dr. Bey threw the aflame map off his desk and to the office wood floors.

Quickly, both Jonathan and Evy moved around the desk to pat out the ancient paper that held the information about the City.

"You've burnt it! You've burned off the part with the lost city." Jonathan held the paper, staring at it with shock.

"It's for the best, I'm sure. Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra. No one's ever found it. Most—have never returned." Dr. Bey told them, eyeing the siblings while Althea stood off to the side and turned her attention off of them to look out the window.

Out the window she looked, over the rooftops of Cairo buildings where she eyed the desert that truly did hold the City of the Dead within its lands.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter.**

 **We are now getting into the movie parts.**

 **Disclaimer for this chapter and all the other chapters and future chapters:** **I do not own anything about** ** _The Mummy/Mummy Returns_** **Series. However, I do own my original character, Althea.**

 ** _Please Review, Follow, and/or Favorite!_**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Thank You!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter:** Finding a Way

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 **…** **.. Couple Days Later: …..**

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It had been early morning when Althea got a message from Evy to pack up some clothes and come meet Jonathan and her at the port.

For the past couple of days, Althea had noted that Evy and Jonathan had been missing. It made Althea to believe that the siblings had researched more about Hamunaptra, or as everyone knew it as the City of the Dead, after that map had shown that it existed.

Before Althea could leave the museum with a few packed bags, Dr. Bey caught her attention.

"They are going to Hamunaptra and asked you to come too because of how easily you picked up on medicine, am I right?"

"They asked me to join as a friend and Evy isn't the only one to know how to read ancient scriptures and speak it." Althea turned her head to the right to stare at her guardian.

Stepping closer up to her and staring her in the eyes, Dr. Bey held out a sheath that contained a dagger that was almost the length of her forearm. Althea took it and eyed it before her eyes were back on him with her eyebrows raised.

"For protection, but it also has a Medjai mark on it. If you are ever in any sort of danger or come in contact with the Medjai, show your mark and the dagger."

"If I am to travel with Jonathan and Evy, I have to keep my appearance up."

"I know. But I wish for you not to be killed either, Althea." Dr. Bey rested his hands on her shoulder to give them a squeeze as he stared into Althea eyes with a mixture of concern and worry for her safety.

"Okay."

"Good. Now be safe."

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 **…** **.. Giza Port, Cairo: …..**

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Arriving at the port, Althea was moving around the bustling of people that were going to markets along the port or they were making their way onto the boat.

"Althea!"

Whirling around in her spot, Althea caught sight of Jonathan and Evy waving at her from the end of the ramp that led up to the steam boat. Waving back, Althea made her way over to the two siblings that stood beside their luggage.

"So, you have figure out the location o—" She paused as she eyed the man that stood behind Evy and Jonathan.

The man was looking around at their surroundings before they were making eye contact with her.

The two stared at one another and then gone wide eyes at the same time.

"Yes, we have found this gentleman right here who has kindly agreed to help lead up to Hamunaptra since he been there and—" Evy was explaining, not realizing what was happening.

"Evy." Jonathan cut her off to nod his head between Althea and O'Connell, who were staring at one another with wide eyes.

"Do you know each other?" Evy asked curiously.

"Rick?"

"Althea?" Rick stepped closer to Althea to reach his hand out to touch her face, but dropped it on his side.

As Rick went to step closer to Althea, Althea slapped him across the face causing Jonathan to wince and Evy to gasp while clasping her hands over her mouth.

"What was that for?" Rick blurted out.

"That was for leaving without saying goodbye." Althea snapped back, her eyes blazing with fury.

Rick glared back at Althea, but his stare soften up as he saw that underneath Althea's rage was because of the sadness she felt for his actions.

"I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Oh really?"

"Well, this is starting to get interesting." Jonathan stared between Rick and Althea with Evy.

"I knew that if I came to visit you, you would've followed and I didn't want that."

Althea mouth drop at his explanation. Rick waved his hands before him toward her as he wasn't finished with his explanation.

"I don't mean it in a bad way, just that you were adopted into a pleasant home. You had someone that cared for you and could give you everything that you needed. I wished that I could have done that, but I was always getting in trouble and going on adventures. I didn't want to drag you into that sort of life, Althea." Rick explained with a soft facial expression.

Althea felt her glare soften up to see that Rick meant well. What Rick said just proved how much he cared for her to have a life that he couldn't provide for her.

"Um, can one of you inform us on how you know each other?" Evy waved her finger between the two.

"This is Rick, Evy. You know." Althea didn't complete her sentence as she waited for realization to strike her good friend.

Within a couple of seconds, Evy made an 'oh' sound and there was an instant smile upon her lips.

"This is Rick! He's your older brother!"

"This is your brother!?" Jonathan shouted causing some bystanders to look at him with raised eyebrows.

"And what's wrong with that?" Rick growled underneath his breath as he stepped closer to Jonathan, who held his hands up and shook them.

"Nothing, nothing at all is wrong with that." Jonathan said quickly, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Right. Let me take your bags." Rick said, picking up all their bags before walking up the plank to get onto the boat.

Althea followed after Rick as she wanted to know more about him as they missed each other's lives for many years. Though, Althea really wanted to know how Rick knew where Hamunaptra was located.

Going into their assigned rooms, Althea had a door that connected to Rick's room making her to knock and waited for him to open it up. When he did, Rick stepped aside to allow her inside. Althea sat herself down on the end of his bed and stared at him as he leaned against the wall across from her near the door that led out to the deck of the boat.

"It's amazing how much you have grown."

"You too." Althea whispered, bowing her head as she was staring at her hands and wondering why she was getting shy around Rick all of a sudden.

"You have a family?"

"No. You?"

"Nope. Like I said, I had been traveling and doing adventures to make ends meet." Rick told her.

"Has this adventures been the ones to show you where the location of Hamunaptra is?"

"More like I was leading a French legion garrison at Hamunaptra when we were attacked?"

"So you did find it?"

"Yeah, it's in ruins obviously, but you can sense that something is lurking there." Rick told Althea.

Rick went into some sort of daze as he if was remembering a memory that happen to him at the City.

"And you are going to lead us to the City?"

"Yes."

"I see. I have one favor to ask of you, Rick."

"What's that?" Rick watched Althea stand up from the end of the bed to walk up to him to stare him straight in the eyes with seriousness.

"No harm is to come to Evy or Jonathan."

"I watched my whole garrison go down by men that protected the place."

That comment made Althea to think that it was the Medjai that Rick's garrison had faced. It was the Medjai duty to protect the City of the Dead from those that trespass onto it.

"I see. But still, make sure that they get out alive."

"Okay, and you too. I am to protect you too."

"I know you will, Rick." Althea patted him on his chest then left the room, leaving him to stand there and process their conversation.

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Moving around the room that was hers, Althea was grabbing her pajamas to prepare herself for bed when there were thudding sounds outside her door. That got her to become curious as Althea began to think that it was those group of Americans that had the Egyptologist Allen Chamberlain in their group.

Althea met them earlier after her chat with Rick. They had a poker game going on with Jonathan, who happen to babble and brag about how they were going to the City of the Dead, knowing the location. Althea wanted to throw Jonathan overboard as they didn't need to have more people know the exact location of the City.

As Althea walked toward the door, it slammed up to show a familiar black garb cover individual that Althea recognized it was a Medjai. However, he pointed his gun at her causing her to gasp out and went to move out of the way but he was ripped from her doorway and thrown overboard into the water.

"You good!?" Rick appeared in the doorway with Evy holding his duffle bag that contained all sorts of weapons.

"Yeah, but what is going on?" Althea shouted as she ran back into her room to grab her dagger and the she followed after Rick.

"We are being attacked." Rick shouted over the screaming, roaring of fire, and the horses and camels crying out.

"No shit." Althea snapped as she ducked behind Rick with Evy as he shot another from shooting at them.

Althea mumbled an apology underneath her breath toward the Medjai that were attacking the boat for she knew that they were here on command to stop them from heading to the City of the Dead and to turn back. But the way that the fighting was going, no one was planning to turn back around.

Soon, Rick, Evie and Althea came to stand near the boat railing. Rick was tucking his guns away in a quick manner.

"Can you swim?" He shouted at the two.

Immediately, Althea knew what Rick was planning to do. She was already grabbing onto the railing, watching as Rick move closer to Evy.

"Well, of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it." Evy shouted at him as she handed him back his bag.

"Trust me. It calls for it." Rick picked a screaming Evy up and threw her off the boat and into the river below.

"Go Althea."

Althea climbed up onto the railing and jumped off the boat and into the river. She popped back up, spitting water out before she began to swim toward the shore that Evy swam toward.

Once she felt the ground underneath her feet, Althea stood up and began to walk up the shore, soaking wet and clothes hanging off her body. Evy was walking beside her and soon, Jonathan, Rick and Gad—who was the prison warden that Evy made a deal with in order to save Rick's life—were walking up the shore.

"We've lost everything! All of our tools, all the equipment. All my clothes." Evy cried out.

"Tell me about it." Althea muttered as she twisted her hair to get the water out.

"O'Connell! Hey! O'Connell!"

Hearing their last name, both Althea and Rick turned around to stare across the river where they saw the Americans and working crew stood. The one that shouted at them stood before the American group.

"I think he's talking to you." Althea said to Rick as she had no clue who the man was.

"It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"

"Hey, Beni! Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!" Rick shouted back with a smirk.

They watched as the man named Beni stare around them kick the water in an angry way, showing that Rick was right.

"Past friends?" Althea asked Rick as he walked by her, picking up his duffle bag.

"More like a cockroach that turns his back when things get tough, but he always appears and never truly goes away." Rick muttered as he stormed on by, moving toward the tree lines.

The group made quick moves to follow after Rick, knowing that they have to depend on Rick since he had already traveled these parts because he was their map to the City of the Dead.

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 **…** **.. Sunrise: …..**

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The group had come across a small village that was surrounded by tropical trees with a stream cutting through. There were tents set up, closely together. A good portion of the village was a marketplace, which Rick pointed out that the village was a marketing post.

People notice them right away, and were very welcoming. Evy and Althea were dragged off by a group of women that noticed the state that Evy and Althea were in. While Evy and Althea were dragged off, Rick, Jonathan, and Gad walked off to find them transportation.

Evy and Althea clothes were pulled off of them, but new ones were given to them. A garb that fitted with the desert climate. The two women were dressed in light weighted attire that felt smooth against their skins. The style reminded Althea of a cotton dress with a sweetheart neckline with tiny lace trimming along the neckline.

Both women had different color outfits on with a veil across the lower part of their face to complete the look. Evy's dress robes and veil was black with gold beads decorating the veil and neckline of the dress.

As for Althea, she had on navy blue with a veil across her lower part of her face. There were gold beads and accents decorating the veil and the dress too.

On their feet they wore knee high style footwear to protect their legs. Although there was a daring slit up the middle of their outfit, allowing them to move better while showing off their legs. Black kohl was traced around their eyes to make their eye color to stick out, especially Althea, who green eyes stuck out against her dark hair and light olive color skin.

All dressed in new attire, Evy and Althea began to make their way toward Rick, who had managed to get a group of camels as their new transportation through the desert.

Althea noticed the way that her older brother eyed Evy with a look of awe, struck by Evy's appearance. A grin appeared on Althea's lips as she stared at Rick, seeing how taken he was by Evy.

Althea decided to walk up to Rick, who stood with the camels. She patted one on the nose, but glanced at Rick in the corner of her eyes with the grin still on her lips.

"Have a crush?"

"Shut it, Althea." Rick mumbled through his teeth which made Althea to laugh underneath her breath.

"We should get going!" Jonathan shouted out of nowhere.

Rick rolled his eyes while Evy and Althea took a rein from one of the camels.

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Camels trekked through the sandy desert. Up and down over sandy dunes with no problem. The heat was brutal, but the group kept themselves wrapped up to not get burned by the sun that blazed heavily on them.

The camels would occasionally make grunting sounds that became very noticeable and loud when the group did not engage in any sort of conversation. Most of the group was quiet through the journey, except Jonathan who had to make some sort of comment or make some sort of noise because that was the type of individual that he was.

"Never did like camels. Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting." Jonathan complained, staring at his camel then looking at the rest of the group.

"I think they're adorable." Evy said, itching her camel on its head with a smile.

There was singing out of nowhere causing the group to look at one another and then behind them to see that it was Gad singing some sort of song that the rest of the group never heard of.

Some reason, the group felt that the journey became longer than it already was.

 **…** **..**

Miles after miles the group had gone, going through small sandstorms from the desert, and receiving blast of heat from the sun.

The group never stopped, and continue to push themselves through the desert climate.

During nighttime, the group came across a flat land in the desert that was near a valley of rocky cliffs. Althea had snapped awake to glance behind her since Gad's snore were very loud. She watched as Jonathan woke up, slapped Gad a few times with the camel whip and then pretended he was asleep.

Althea had to bite her tongue to not laugh as Gad snapped awake, looking around and trying to figure out what had been slapping him.

The sound of horses whining in the distance made Althea to look away from Jonathan and Gad to stare up at the valley cliffs. Her eyes took in ten horses with people astride on them. It was obvious these people stared down upon them.

Althea knew exactly who it was.

"Ardeth." Althea whispered.

 **…** **..**

On top of the valley cliff, Ardeth stared down at the five people on the camels.

"This one is strong." Ardeth whispered as he recognized the same man when the Medjai attacked three years ago at Hamunaptra, was back with others.

Ardeth got word from Dr. Bey about this group expedition plans to Hamunaptra. There was another group, which were Americans, but were on a different trail than this group. Ardeth knew that Althea was with Evy and Jonathan, but also, Ardeth saw that Althea was in the group being led by the strong one.

Ardeth eyes scanned over the five individuals on the camel, but his eyes came to rest on one that continued to stare up at the cliff like the strong one had done.

"Althea." Ardeth whispered.

 **…** **..**

When sunrise came, the group was wide awake. They had finally came to their location due to Rick's confirmation. Although the area that they came upon, they soon came face to face with the American group on their horses being led by none other than Beni himself.

"Good morning, my friend." Beni rode forward on a horse.

They all lined up side by side, staring at the vast desert land that sat before them. There was nothing but sand and a rocky cliff afar. There were no signs of any sort of buildings.

"What the hell we doing?" The American Daniels asked.

"Patience, my good baratom. Patience." Beni said.

"Remember our bet, O'Connell. First one to the city, five hundred cash bucks. A hundred of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet." Henderson informed Rick.

"Oh, my pleasure." Beni replied dryly, not showing any interest in such a bet.

"Hey, O'Connell. Nice camel." Beni snorted with a snicker after.

"Get ready for it." Rick said out of nowhere causing everyone to look at him with curiosity at what he meant.

"For what?" Evy asked, not quite understanding what he meant like the rest of them that had never been to the City.

"We're about to be shown the way." Rick stated as he nodded toward the sun that was continuing to rise.

As the sun got higher, the group watched at the desert land before them. It was almost immediate that awestruck expression struck across their faces as the City began to appear in front of them out of thin air. It was almost like a mirage, especially the way it waver into their visual. The ruin buildings became into solid form as the sun continued to emerge from the horizon.

"Will ya look at that." Henderson blurted out.

"Can you believe it?"

"Hamunaptra." Burns whispered.

"Here we go again." Rick muttered, clearly not wanting to deal with the City again.

"Go, go, go, go." Jonathan said once the City fully appeared.

The City itself was surrounded by tall walls of rocks and cliffs. The walls circulated around the City. Although everyone could see the City entrance, especially when the sun hit something that made a bright flash of light. That flash of light became their beckon to race on forward toward the City.

"Hyah!"

"Hyah!"

Immediately everyone burst out of their spot on their horses and camels, riding hard across the desert and toward the City. Both Rick and Beni fought against each other with their whips until Rick got the upper hand and tossed Beni off of his horse.

"Now that serves you right." Evy shouted at Beni as she rode by his form on the ground.

"Good enough!" Althea shouted at Beni, laughing.

"Go, Evy, go!" Jonathan shouted.

Evy camel took off ahead of everyone and got into the City with Rick trailing behind her then Althea and Jonathan to follow.

They laughed as they beat everyone else into the City, but their laughter faded away to awe as they realize that they became witnesses of the existence of the City of the Dead. They could not believe that they were actually in the City, and ready to explore it.

Immediately, the group got to work on unpacking their items and setting up an area for themselves. The Americans with their expedition crew decided to camp far away from them, not wanting to mix in with their exploring. Although the group laughed when Henderson came over to slap five hundred bucks into Rick hand before stomping off, mumbling about a lady and camels.

Althea stood on a broken stone pillar stump that used to be apart of a building. Her eyes scanned over the area, seeing where the Americans set up their camp. Her eyes moved away to take in the entrance entrances to the City, and any other opening areas in the wall. She wanted to be precaution in case something goes wrong during their time in the City.

Although Althea knew that the Medjai would also make their presence known. She would not be surprise if Ardeth was in the group, leading them in. She could only imagine Ardeth expression when he caught sight of her here. Yet, Althea had a feeling that Dr. Bey might had warned Ardeth already that Althea was present within the group.

She had a feeling that Ardeth knew she was here, but that did not stop the butterflies that erupted in her stomach. She could picture Ardeth not being to happy to see that she came along with Evy and Jonathan on their expedition.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter.**

 **Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Thank You!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter:** Discoveries and Warnings

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Their group moved throughout their new surroundings until they picked a spot to set up their camp area. Their camp area was nearby the area they wished to explore.

Evy was walking around the area, taking everything in and touching anything within her reach. She was babbling on and on about many facts about the ancient times.

Althea would glance over at her older brother Rick, watching him eyeing Evy walking around and talking. Althea could not help but smirk, already seeing Rick crushing on Evy.

"That is the statue of Anubis. Its legs go deep underground. According to Bembridge scholars, that's where we'll find a secret compartment containing the Golden Book of Amum-Ra." Evy explained.

Evy was adjusting some sort of mirror in order for the sun to hit it at a certain angle.

"Jonathan, you're meant to catch the sun with that." Evy pointed out.

Evy saw how Jonathan held the same type of mirror, trying to figure out what to do with it.

Althea stepped up beside Jonathan to stare at the mirror plate closely, watching as Jonathan used a handkerchief to clean off the mirror from sand and grime.

"So, uh, what are these old mirrors for?" Rick asked Evy.

"Ancient mirrors. It's an ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see." Evy explained, trying to get the mirror to stand upright in the sand.

When Althea saw Rick reach into his back pocket to pull something out, glancing at Evy with an unsure look, Althea slapped Jonathan on the arm to get his attention.

"What?" Jonathan looked down at Althea with a single raised eyebrow.

"Look. Rick is giving Evy something. Seems to me that my older brother has a crush on your younger sister." Althea whispered, making sure Rick nor Evy could hear her.

Jonathan made a face as he saw how Althea was possibly right. Althea could not help but snicker at Jonathan's disgusted facial expression.

"Uh, here. This is for, us, you. Go ahead. It's something I borrowed off our American brethren. I thought you might like it. You might need it for when you're uh, uh, yeah." Rick handed Evy a small leather cover that contained tools for archeologist.

"What are you looking at?" Rick said, putting put up a tough guy look when he caught Gad, staring and listening to Rick trying to make conversation to Evy.

"Smooth." Althea said to Rick when he walked by her.

"Shut it."

Althea snicker and turn to face Jonathan, who was snickering too as he was now finding Rick display to Evy funny to watch, especially how tough Rick was showed nervousness toward Evy.

"Hey. Look for bugs. I hate bugs." Gad said to Rick.

Rick was making sure a rope he had tied to a stone pillar was tight before he began to slide down into a hole beneath the ground they stood on.

The rest of them soon followed Rick into an underground chamber. The room was large, dark and filled with cobwebs and piles of stone rubbles.

"Do you realize we're standing inside a room that no one has entered in over three thousand years?" Evy whispered, turning around in her spot in a small circle to eye the complete room with awe.

"Whoo! What is that god-awful stench?" Jonathan said as he shook his hands about because he slid down the rope too fast.

When Gad came sliding down after Jonathan, Jonathan sniffed him and made a face with an 'oh' expression, realizing that it was Gad he was smelling.

"Hey, there's one of those mirrors." Althea pointed toward a statue holding one of the mirrors they saw outside.

"Nice eyes, Althea." Evy said, jogging over to brush the cobwebs and dirt off the mirror.

The group stood back as Evy adjusted the mirror until the sunlight that came through an opening in the ceiling hit the mirror perfectly.

"And then there was light." Evy said as the sun hit the mirror just right.

The light beams hit another mirror that soon hit another and another. It lit up the room for them to see throughout the room and didn't need any sort of lanterns to help them see through the dark.

"Hey, that is a neat trick." Rick walked further into the room, where he observed with an impressed expression at how the mirrors beamed the sunlight beams at each other to light up the room.

"Oh, my God. It's a sah-netjer." Evy gasped out as she stared around the room some more and recognized the exact room that was lit up.

"Huh?"

"A preparation room." Evy answered Rick's confused tone.

"Preparation for what?" Rick asked next.

"Really, Rick? Think about it." Althea said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't know." Rick raised his hands up, not one to really get into the historical information unless someone tells him about it and forces him to understand it.

"It is for entering the afterlife." Evy said slowly, adding a shaky tone which made it eerie.

Immediate, Rick pulled out his handgun as he gone through enough incidents that happen to him at this place when he was back in the garrison.

"Mummies, my good son, this is where they made the mummies." Jonathan said as he held one of the torches.

They walked down a thin hallway when they heard various sounds. There were scratching and screeching sounds as if it were a millions of bugs of some sort that made chirping, screeching sounds.

"What the—"Evy turned around and around, staring around the small hallway and trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.

It soon came to a stop.

"What was that?" Jonathan blurted out.

"Sounds like—bugs." Rick said, even though he knew Gad hated bugs.

"He said bugs." Evy whispered back to them, and down the line so they could all hear what Rick said.

"What do you mean bugs? I hate bugs."

They continued to walk through the hallway with Rick as the leader of the line. They slowed up as they came around a corner and entered through a small doorway. Once they all got into the room with their torches, they could see hieroglyphics on a platform with legs on top of it and gone up through the ceiling.

"The legs of Anubis. The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here." Evy stepped closer.

There were the sounds of growling and moaning that began to echo throughout the hallways and nearby rooms.

Shoving Evy and Althea against the platform, Rick pulled the hammer back on his gun and began to slid his back against the platform toward the corner of the platform. He pulled out his other gun and whirled around the corner with Gad and Jonathan jumping with him with their handguns ready.

They came face to face with the Americans with their guns pointed at them.

Althea and Evy let sigh out with relief that it was just them.

"You scared the bejesus out of us, O'Connell." Henderson admitted.

"Likewise." Rick replied.

"Hey, that's my tool kit." Burns stepped forward, staring straight at Evy, who was holding the tool kit that Rick generously gave to her earlier today.

"No, I don't think so." Rick said, cocking his gun again and pointing it straight at Burns causing everyone to rise their guns again.

"Okay. Perhaps I was mistaken." Burns replied quickly, not liking how O'Connell kept his gun train near him.

"Boys." Althea muttered.

"Well, have a nice day, gentlemen. We have a lot of work to be getting along with." Evy said once the boys lower their weapons.

"Push off! This is our dig site." Chamberlain snapped at Evy.

"We got here first." Evy growled in return.

The guns were raised at each other again.

"This here is our statue, friend." Daniel stated.

"I don't see your name written on it, pal." Rick replied dryly.

"Yes, well, there's only four of you and fifteen of me. Your odds are not so great, O'Connell." Beni pointed out.

"I've had worse." Rick pointed his gun at Beni, not liking the man one bit, especially with how he left him behind back in the garrison.

"Yeah, me too." Jonathan stated causing them to look at him with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, look. For goodness' sake, let's be nice, children. If we're going to play together, we must learn to share. There are other places to dig." Evy said as she stepped up to them then turned to face Rick when she emphasized the last part of the sentence and even grabbed his arm.

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They went back to the original room they had been in earlier, where they explore more and found a way to get down another floor level. Immediately, on the new floor level, Evy had the guys use pickaxes to stab into the ceiling underneath the platform of Anubis, which they found the legs earlier when upstairs with the Americans. Though with the Americans up above, they were underneath the statue.

"According to these hieroglyphics, we're underneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs." Evy pointed out while Rick hit the ceiling.

"And when those damn Yanks go to sleep—no offense." Jonathan said, glancing at Rick and Althea.

"None taken." Rick and Althea said at the same time with a shrug of their shoulders, not offended by Jonathan comment.

"We'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under them." Jonathan finished his sentence.

"Are you sure we can find this secret compartment thing?" Rick asked, hitting the pickaxe in the ceiling a little bit harder.

"Oh, yes, if those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it. No offense." Evy said, glancing between Rick and Althea.

"None taken." Rick and Althea said again at the same time.

"Hey, where'd our smelly little friend get to?" Jonathan asked, glancing around the room to see that Gad gone.

"No clue." Althea shrugged her shoulders as she did not realize the warden disappeared from their presence.

Having no luck with pickaxing the ceiling, they took a break and sat around the room. Jonathan was using one of the pickaxe as a golf club and hitting random rocks, which were bouncing off the walls of the room. Evy was sitting next to Rick and telling him more about the preparation room. As for Althea, she was sitting on a stone beside Jonathan, tossing him a golf ball size rock every time he held his hand up.

"Let me get this straight. They ripped out your guts, and they stuffed them in jars." Rick said slowly.

"And then they take out your heart as well. Oh, and you know how they took out your brain?" Evy explained excitedly.

"Evy, I don't think we need to know this." Jonathan said with a sigh.

Althea smiled as she saw how excited Evy would get over ancient history and she would explain everything without censoring it.

"They'd take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit and then rip it all out through your nostrils."

"Oh, that's gotta hurt." Rick cringed, reaching up toward his nose as he thought about what Evy said.

"It's called mummification. You'll be dead when they do this." Evy pointed out.

Althea shook her head as she found a good size stone and drop it before Jonathan then sat herself back down on the rock. Althea rested her elbows on her knees and cupped her face in her hands, waiting for Jonathan to swing.

"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification." Rick pointed at all of them to make sure they got that fact.

"Likewise." Jonathan said as he swung.

The rock hit pinged off the ceiling. For a split second there was a cracking sound and then the ceiling Rick had been stabbing at with the pickaxe broke apart. Something large slammed to the ground in front of where Rick and Evy sat.

"Nice shot, Jonathan." Althea said as she stared with wide eyes.

"Oh my god. It's a—it's a sarcophagus. Buried at the base of Anubis." Evy said.

Rick and Evy stepped up to the large dark stone sarcophagus while Jonathan and Althea stepped up to it on the other side.

"But if he was buried there then that must mean—"Althea paused her words as she continued to stare with wide eyes at the sarcophagus in shock.

"Yes. He must have been someone of great importance. Or he did something very naughty." Evy said, staring at Althea, who nodded in agreement as she was thinking the same thing.

The group continued to scan the sarcophagus for any clues about the reason for its location.

Quickly, Evy got the tool kit to use a brush while Rick just used his hands to brush the dirt off.

"Well, who is it?" Jonathan asked.

"He That Shall Not Be Named." Evy read from the cover of the sarcophagus in a slow tone.

The single sentence made Althea to take a step back. Instantly, Althea thought about the stories Dr. Bey would tell her about the high priest, who had an affair with the mistress and future wife of the pharaoh, who they ended up killing together. In the end, the couple got themselves killed. Who laid in the sarcophagus was what the Medjai were protecting the outside from.

This was the evil that couldn't, or rather, shouldn't be released or discover by anyone.

As Althea continued to stare at it, she felt they had discovered it.

Rick blew on the cover to show an indent in the cover that appeared to look exactly like the box that Jonathan gave to Evy. When Evy opened the box to find the map, the way it was open to show eight pointed star formation, it looked like it could fit inside this indent that was in the cover.

"This looks like some sort of a lock." Rick pointed out.

"Well, whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out."

"Maybe we shouldn't open it." Althea blurted out, holding herself back from mentioning about the box key.

"Yeah, no kidding." Rick replied to both Jonathan and Althea's remarks as he wasn't liking this new discovery.

"It'd take us a month to crack into this thing without a key."

"A key? A key! A key! Now that's what he was talking about." Evy said, whirling around to her bag to pull out the box.

"Who was talking about what?" Rick asked.

"The man on the barge. The one with the hook. He was looking for a key." Evy said as she hit the certain areas on the box to make it open up into the eight pointed star formation.

"Hey, that's mine." Jonathan pointed out.

When Evy stuck it into the indent on the sarcophagus it was perfect fit. Evy smiled, proud that they discover this sarcophagus and the fact she figured out the key.

Althea wanted to rip the key out of the sarcophagus and run off with it, to keep it away from everyone. Yet Althea had to keep her image up that she wasn't associated with the Medjai. She felt as if she was a double-spy.

Hearing screaming out of nowhere and coming closer and closer to them, they all whirled around to stare at the hallway that exited out of the room. They ran to the doorway where they poked their heads out to see Gad clenching his head, screaming.

When they stepped in the hallway to ask Gad what was wrong, the warden pushed by them. He continued to scream loudly and run down the dead end hallway. He ran straight into the wall in full speed and flung back onto his back not moving anymore.

The group all stood there in silence, glancing at one another and trying to figure out what happened.

"What the hell?" Althea blurted out after a few seconds in silence.

It took them a bit longer to make their way down the sandy hallway toward the unmoving body of Gad and they stood around him. Rick knelt down beside Gad's body to check Gad's pulse, but Rick looked up at them in a couple of seconds and shook his head with a bit of a frown.

"He's dead."

"Oh my." Evy whispered as her hands clasped in front of her mouth.

"You can say that again." Jonathan mumbled, shaking his head.

"I say that we had enough adventures for one day." Althea said immediately, wanting to exit out of this for the day as she witness and discover enough.

"Agreed." The other three said together with firm nods.

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It was nighttime by the time they made their way aboveground.

Althea left the group to go roaming around the area. She did make sure that everyone in the City was still within her view. Althea walked around the outer parts of the wall when a hand came around her mouth and ripped her behind a large rock outside the walls of the City.

Fighting with the hand, they held her tight and a mouth was near her right ear.

"Calm down, Althea."

The familiar mellow and smooth voice caused her to stop struggling in their grasps.

"Ardeth." Althea said once he took his hand off her mouth.

"Althea."

Whirling around to face him, Althea grin at the sight of him, but it quickly vanished when Ardeth stared at her with seriousness.

"When I heard from Dr. Bey about you joining Evelyn and Jonathan on this adventure, I couldn't believe it."

"I'm sorry. It's just that they asked and I couldn't make me look suspicious and—and—"Althea stop speaking when Ardeth held up his right hand for her to stop talking.

"Dr. Bey explained about the position that you are in. I have to ask you, what happen on the first day." Ardeth asked with curiosity.

Althea knew that Dr. Bey must had defend her. He must had explained she was here to gather information about what everyone was doing on this expedition. Now, here Althea had to report the truth to Ardeth, especially with the way he stared at her with those dark brown eyes of his.

Hearing horses, Althea glanced to the right where she saw about thirty of Ardeth's men on top of horses with weapons ready. Althea eyes shot back to Ardeth with shock.

"What is this?"

"We are to attack yet make a warning for everyone to leave."

"Really? My good friends are in there and I had finally ran into my older brother, Rick after so many years."

"Wait, that man that is traveling with you, the warrior type one is your brother?" Ardeth asked as he thought about the one that he labeled as 'the strong one' since day one when they chased him through the City during Rick's time with the garrison.

"Yes."

"That explains a lot of being strong." Ardeth mumbled underneath his breath to himself as he came to realize how strong, not only Rick was, but Althea too.

They were uniquely strong in their own ways. Rick was fearless and determined to not give up, always fighting till the end. As for Althea, she was bold and fought when it was necessary. Protective she was and yet at the same time, has gentle touches and a calming voice.

"What was it you said?"

"Nothing, just what had happened thus far?"

"Oh you know, finding a sarcophagus that I believe has the high priest contained in and the warden that had been traveling with us suddenly died out of nowhere. Though he did seem in pain, clutching his head before he ran head first into a wall. Then there's the American group that some of their hired workers to open up a slot for them, only to get sprayed and their skin melted off with a booby trap of pressurized salt acid. So, yeah, that has been happening." Althea explained, spreading her arms out then dropping them to her sides with a soft slap against her thighs.

"That is not good."

"No, really? I could literally feel the air getting heavier and heavier by the seconds as I stood there watching everyone hover around the sarcophagus, wanting to open it." Althea informed Ardeth, shaking her head as she wasn't having a good feeling about this whole expedition.

"Then we will step in." Ardeth told her as he reached out to touch Althea right shoulder then slid his hand off to run his fingertips across her cheeks and pulled his hand away to face his men.

With a quick command, they were riding off into the city, yelling about with their weapons ready.

Ardeth moved toward his horse and got on, pulling his scarf up over his lower part of his face.

The sound of gunfire and yelling inside made Althea to begin moving in that direction to go find Evy, Jonathan and Rick, to make sure that they were safe. But Ardeth moved in front of her on his horse and shook his head.

"Wait it out."

"But Ardeth, Evy, Jonathan and Rick…"

"I wish for you to not get hurt." Ardeth told her strongly causing her to shut her mouth to not say anymore.

Because she wasn't going to say more, Ardeth nodded at her and grabbed the reins of his horse in both hands. Before he stormed into the City to help out, Althea grabbed a hold of his pant leg.

"Please, be safe."

A nod from Ardeth made Althea to nod back and she let go of his pant leg. Althea watched as he pulled his sword out and tapped his horse on the side causing the horse to jump forward into an immediate sprint and jumped over a hole in the wall to enter the City.

Althea stood in the hole in the wall to see it led out to the City where fire was being started, Medjai were chasing after everyone with their weapons. Though the Americans and Rick were taking many out with their accurate gun aim.

Moving through the hole and jogging up to the stone pillars that Ardeth rode between to chase after Jonathan, she watched as Rick came out of nowhere and tackle Ardeth off his horse.

"What are the odds?" Althea mumbled as she kept herself hidden behind the stone pillars as she watched Ardeth try to swipe Rick's gun out of his hand yet Rick shot the sword out of Ardeth's hand.

Althea clenched the stone pillar with wide eyes, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as she saw Rick held Ardeth at gunpoint. Ardeth was quick with his other sword to smack Rick's gun out of his hand before he shoved Rick back into a pile of equipment.

Seeing how Ardeth got out of gunpoint from Rick, Althea felt herself calm down just a little. She didn't want either of them to get hurt, but seeing how close Ardeth was to be seriously wounded, or worst, killed by Rick, Althea wanted to run out there and protect Ardeth from harm.

When Rick stood back up after a couple of seconds there was a lit stick of dynamite in his hand. Althea shook her head, wondering what goes on in Rick's thoughts for him to think of lighting up a stick of dynamite and now waving it about causing Ardeth to back away from Rick.

"Enough!" Ardeth shouted causing his Medjai men to stop attacking which resulted in everyone else that was present in the site to stop fighting.

"We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die. You have one day." Ardeth warned then turned his back away and moved toward his horse, pulling himself on.

With a command, they quickly rode out of the area and out of the City.

Quickly, Althea moved back to the hole to exit out of the City and she moved toward the large stone where Ardeth had pulled her behind earlier.

Althea waited a few moments then heard a horse ride up toward her.

"Your brother is an interesting character."

"Yes, yes he is." Althea said as she stared at Ardeth on top of his horse.

"Everyone has a day to leave."

"I know."

"You were listening?"

"Yes, and I was out of harm's way." Althea said.

She saw how he was about to say something that was to scowl her for not listening to him about staying away to keep her out of harms way.

A sigh then a chuckle escaped Ardeth with a nod.

"Alright. You were out of harms way."

A grin came on Althea's lips, but she soon found herself yawning and quickly covering her mouth with her right hand to hide it. When she glanced at Ardeth, she saw how his face soften at the sight of her tired state.

"You must rest."

"Yes, I must do that."

"Keep your eyes open."

"I will, but I have a bad feeling about all of this. Everyone is discovering so many artifacts so quickly."

"As long as the creature doesn't come to life." Ardeth pointed out.

"Yes, I hope not. Hopefully, no one will read from the book, if it is to be found." Althea told Ardeth as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"We can only hope as of right now. For now, I say to you goodnight." Ardeth said.

He bumped his horse sides to move closer to her. Ardeth reached down to rest his hand against her cheek making Althea to shut her eyes, enjoying the warmth of his hand. His hand on her face made her own cheeks to heat up.

With one more flash of a grin, Ardeth clicked his tongue for his horse to take off.

"Goodnight, Ardeth." Althea said, watching as Ardeth ride away and soon vanish into the darkness of the desert.

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 **…** **..**

 **…** **..**

 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter.**

 **Please Review, Favorite and/or Follow!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Thank You!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter:** Whispers

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 **…** **.. The Next Day: …..**

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The early morning, everyone was back to exploring.

Rick, Evy, Jonathan and Althea were back underground in the preparation room where the sarcophagus was.

Althea stood back with her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Jonathan and Rick struggle a little to lift and tilt the solid sarcophagus against the wall. There was clear excitement across Evy whole posture, and she moved a little in her spot in anticipation.

"You have been quiet lately." Rick said as he stepped back next to Althea.

"I have a feeling that this is a very bad idea on opening this." Althea whispered.

Rick turned his head to stare at her, his eyes searching her own and seeing the unsureness in her eyes. The whole expedition, she mentioned about a bad feeling.

"Well, there's no stopping Evy." Rick replied.

"I see that." Althea mumbled as she watched Evy walk up close to the sarcophagus cover with awestruck and dreamy expression.

"Oh, I've dreamt about this since I was a little girl." Evy said breathlessly.

"You dream about dead guys?" Rick asked with raised eyebrow as he stared with a little concern for Evy's sanity.

"Oh, look. The sacred spells have been chiseled off. This man must have been condemned not only in this life but in the next." Evy explained as she read more of the hieroglyphics across the cover.

"This is why we shouldn't do this." Althea mumbled to herself, shaking her head.

"Tough break." Rick replied to Evy's statement.

"Yeah, I'm all tears." Jonathan mumbled as he stuck the key into the indent on the sarcophagus and began to turn the key in the lock.

"Now let's see who's inside, shall we?" Jonathan said.

The key Jonathan spun made a small click sound and he paused. He stepped back a little to help Rick lift the cover off.

With the cover sealed tight on the sarcophagus for a very long time, and air sealed tight, the cover released air and popped right off. The cover crashed to the ground and there appeared to be a loud roar sound echo throughout the whole place. The mummy inside had shot straight out in an upright position. A scream escaped Evy, which in turn made Althea to scream out of reaction.

"Oh, my god, I hate it when these things do that." Evy shook her hands as she walked back up to the mummy to take the mummy in.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Rick pointed out with an unsure tone.

The condition of the mummy was new to their eyes. This mummy was mummified, but was not in the condition as the regular mummies that were in the museum back in Cairo. This particular mummy appeared to be decomposing still. The skin was shiny and moist.

"No, I've never seen a mummy look like this before. H-He's still—still—"Evy couldn't figure out a word for the sight of the mummy's condition.

"Juicy." Jonathan, Rick and Althea blurted out as they stared at the mummy with a bit of mild disgust.

"Yes. He must be more than three thousand years old, and, well, it looks as if he's still—"

"Decomposing." Althea finished her sentence.

"Yes." Evy said as she eyed the mummy up and down, still not believing the sight of the mummy's conditions.

"Huh. Look at that." Rick pointed to the sarcophagus cover that laid on the ground.

The four turned around to stare at the inside of the cover to see scratch marks all over the inside. Immediately, the four knew what that meant for this mummy they uncovered.

"What do you make of this?" Rick knelt down on the head of the cover and waved his hands at the scratch marks.

"Oh God, he was alive." Althea gasped out, kneeling down beside Evy near the cover.

There was complete horrification across Rick and Jonathan faces. They all stared at the cover, thinking the same thing or along the lines. This mummy, this person had been buried alive in the sarcophagus and was left there to never be freed again.

"Yes, yes, these marks were made with fingernails. This man was buried alive. And he left a message." Evy pointed out a small scratched writing in between the other scratch marks.

"Death is only the beginning." Evy whispered.

The four looked back at the still decomposing mummy with wide eyes. There was a small draft of air that came through the room, and there appeared to be the sound of whispers along the draft.

"Did anyone just hear th—" Althea said lowly, holding her right pointer finger up as to point out the unknown whispering.

"Yep." Jonathan and Rick gulped.

"Okay, I was making sure I wasn't hearing things." Althea said, staring at the mummy as she was really having a bad feeling in her stomach about this expedition not being a normal one anymore.

 **…** **..**

 **…** **.. Hours Later; Nighttime: …..**

 **…** **..**

With the discovery of the mummy and no more discoveries within the sarcophagus, the four of them decided to explore the area in which the mummy was found in. They searched around for anymore clues about who this mummy was, and they also explored to find any other artifacts.

They spent hours moving around the area until they returned back to the surface.

Althea walked around the sites, gathering little snippets about the Americans digging crew had found jars containing organs and a book. The mention of the book made Althea to walk in the direction of a tent owned by Egyptologist Allen Chamberlain was. She saw him holding a black book with all sorts of hieroglyphics on the front and back covers. Althea also caught side of the familiar key looking indent. The key they used to open the sarcophagus earlier today was also the key to unlock this book.

"What are you looking at, woman?"

"Not you." Althea replied dryly causing Chamberlain eyes to widen and mouth to drop while Althea walked away with a smirk.

Heading back to the area where her group camped out in, Althea saw Rick with Jonathan, Beni, Evy and the Americans, all sitting around the fire pit. She walked over and stood nearby, listening as Evy was explaining about what she found when she had been studying the sarcophagus with the mummy inside.

"Look at what I found. Scarab skeletons, flesh eaters. I found them inside our friend's coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him." Evy explained as she turned the crystallized insects in her hands and she looked up at everyone with a fantasizing look.

"So somebody threw these in with our guy, and then they slowly ate him alive?" Rick held up one of the insects with his eyebrows coming together as he glanced over at Evy.

"Very slowly." Evy added on for some effects.

"Well, he certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him, was he?" Burns asked.

"Well, he probably got a little too frisky with the pharaoh's daughter." Rick said jokily causing Evy to gently laugh.

"Well, according to my readings, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient Egyptian curses, one reserved only for the most evil of blasphemers. In all of my research, I've never heard of this curse having actually been performed." Evy explained which made everyone to adjust themselves in their seats.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes, well they—they never used it because they feared it so. It's written that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise, he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt." Evy told them in an eerie tone, eyeing each of them.

They sat in silence for a few seconds as the information sunk it. It wasn't helping that Evy was grinning at them as she found all this very intriguing, but for everyone else, they had goosebumps all over their bodies.

As for Althea, she was freaked out as she knew this was what the Medjai protected, to keep explorers and others away in order to not discover anything about this place. The mummy they had found earlier, if this mummy was ever to arise, the information Evy given them would come true.

 **…** **..**

 **…** **..**

 **…** **..**

Later on in the night, everyone slowly gone to bed, especially after Evy's explanation about the mummy, and what actually happened to the mummy.

In a light sleep, Althea woke up for a random reason. There was a soft breathy whisper circling around her body, which almost sound like the words **_'wake up'_** over and over again. Althea was fully awake now. She sat upright in her tent, rubbing her eyes to clear them up.

It was still dark outside and the camp fire was still alive.

Althea pushed herself toward the opening of the tent, where her eyes came to settle on Evy, who was reading from the book Chamberlain had in his possession earlier. Immediately, Althea gone wide eyes at the sight of Evy with the Book of the Dead and reading the context out loud.

The final piece to wake up the mummy, and Evy was reading from it without knowing the consequences of her actions. Even with Rick beside Evy, she saw he was doing absolutely nothing to stop her.

"No, do not—" Althea began to shout causing Rick and Evy to look over at Althea with widen eyes.

Out of nowhere, a gust of wind whipped through the camp and the atmosphere became heavy with tension.

"NO! You must not read from the book." Chamberlain shouted from his tent.

The wind throughout the area began to pick up, the camels and horses began to get antsy in their spots, clearly sensing something was wrong.

Rick, Evy and Althea stood up to stare off into the distance of the City as the wind continue to pick up. Everyone began to wake up in the camp due to the high winds. There was a sound of chattering coming closer and closer to them. Within seconds, there was a thick wall coming toward the campsite, but as the wall came closer, everyone realize its as grasshoppers.

"RUN!" Rick shouted.

Immediately, they all made way toward the openings to the ruins to head underground.

As everyone ran throughout the underground tunnels, Althea grunted as she was pushed aside by Beni and she smacked the side of a wall. She glared after the annoying little man, wishing she could punch him straight in the face.

Althea pushed herself off the wall, staring around and realizing she lost sight of anyone. She was alone, and she needed to figure out where she was.

As she began to jog throughout the tunnels, guessing the whole time of where to go next.

Althea slid to a stop in front of a wall full of hieroglyphics. Her eyes scanned over the hieroglyphics, reading the ancient text and trying to figure out where she was. But as she continued to read, there was a loud scream that echoed throughout the tunnel. She whirled around to stare behind her and then at the hallways on either side of her, seeing nothing but darkness.

"How Lovely? By myself in a creepy hallway with screams and whispers." Althea mumbled as she stood there, trying to figure out what she should do.

 ** _'_** ** _Right.'_** It was the sound again from earlier, but this time Althea picked up that the whisper was a woman.

There was a chilled breeze that circle around Althea. The hairs on her body raised as the whispers continue to circulate around her, but speaking more closely to her ears.

With nothing else to lose, Althea went right. Slowly, she made her way through the tunnel with her right hand against the cool stone walls. Soon, Althea came to a halt as she entered an intersection. She shut her eyes as the whispers came back around her.

 ** _'_** ** _Left.'_**

Althea went to the left, and every time she came to a questionable area, she waited until the whisper told her which direction. She soon came to a dead end, which made her confused and wonder what happen now.

 ** _'_** ** _Touch.'_**

Without a second though, Althea stared around the wall until her eyes caught sight of a stone that stuck out of the wall more so than the other stones. She reached out and pushed the stone in, watching the stone sink into the wall. There was the sound of air being release from the cracks in the wall, which began to open up.

A small opening appeared in the wall, and Althea slipped her way through it. She took a couple steps in the short hallway and came out of another opening to another room, but before she could fully stand, there was a sword pointed at her face.

"Um?"

"Althea?"

"Ardeth!?" Althea gasped out as the wall shut behind her.

Althea stood tall once the sword was gone from her face. She stared around the large intersection area, seeing all the torches lit on the walls. The lighting from the flames dance across the hieroglyphics and painting across the walls.

In front of Althea stood Ardeth with a good amount of his men standing around the room, eyeing her with curiosity. Yet, when Ardeth walked closer to her and reached out to lay his hand gently upon her upper arm, the men eased up. There were a few of them who appeared to get realization across their faces as if they heard about her.

"How did you know there was a passage there?"

"I don't know." Althea mumbled, turning to look at the wall where the secret passage was.

Althea wanted to tell Ardeth about the whispers she heard, telling her where to go. Her eyes came to rest on Ardeth to notice he stared at her with slight narrowed eyes, showing he did not fully believe her. He stood a little taller as his face was serious, leaving the questions for later.

"Who awoken the creature?"

"Wait, the creature is awake?" Althea questioned.

"Yes."

"Oh, goodie." Althea mumbled, running her hands through her now messy brown hair and then dropping her hands onto her sides.

"Evy took the Book of the Dead from Chamberlain when she saw it had the indent of the key that she had. The key, she used to open the sarcophagus with who I assume is the creature and she read from the book, not realizing what its consequences were." Althea explained, shaking her head.

"Didn't you try to stop her?"

"That wouldn't have stopped her. She doesn't believe in curses and believes no harm will come from reading out of an ancient book. I mean, I was sleeping when she began to read from the book and something made me to wake up. I woke up to see that she was finishing up the last words and I yelled for her to stop, but it was too late. I—I'm sorry." Althea mumbled the last part with her head bowed as she felt as if she failed in prevention of Evy reading from the book.

A tattooed hand softly touched her chin and raised her head up to make eye connection with warm brown eyes.

Around the room, the other Medjai appeared to look away from Ardeth and Althea, and they tried to find something else of interest in the room.

"Don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault."

"But—"

"No. No more. You knew it was bad and you knew what it'll bring. But you were right about hearing how the Carnahan acted from Dr. Bey. There was no stopping them, especially Evelyn." Ardeth assured Althea as it was clear her did not want to see her put all the blame on her shoulders.

"And I should have made everyone leave two nights ago."

"No, you gave us a warning."

"And I usually never do. I should've push everyone out that night." Ardeth mumbled mostly to himself with a glare on his face toward himself.

"Anyway, what are we going to do?"

"Everyone has to leave. There is nothing anyone can do. The creature will bring about the plagues and the end of the world."

Althea gone wide eyes for a few moments before she collected herself. She let out a long exhale from her mouth with a shake of her head.

"You couldn't say that with a little bit of a positive tone."

"No. It's the truth."

"Of course. What was that scream earlier?"

"We were wondering that too." Ardeth said.

Ardeth turned away from her to point out a few of his men and gave them a command in Arabic for them to go search the location of where the sound came from.

With most of his men gone and only three Medjai stayed behind, Ardeth turned back around to face Althea, and stepped closer to her.

"Now, tell me the truth about how you got here. How did you know that passage?" Ardeth whispered to Althea, searching her eyes with his own.

The manner Ardeth stared directly in her eyes, Althea felt that Ardeth stared into her soul. She knew she could not lie to him. She could not do such an action to Ardeth.

"I heard these whispers of this woman, who told me which directions to go." Althea replied in a low tone for only Ardeth ears to hear.

"A voice?"

Althea only nodded and glanced away from Ardeth, not wanting him to think she was crazy.

"It was the same voice that told me to wake up and that was when I saw Evy reading from the book."

Ardeth stared at Althea with curious eyes causing Althea to stare back with a single raised eyebrow, wondering what he was thinking about.

"You don't think that I am crazy, right?"

A small chuckle erupted from Ardeth while he shook his head.

"No, of course not. But whatever this voice is, it appears to keep you alert in a good way. Maybe a spirit or even being a reincarnation of a past life."

"Really?" Althea stared at Ardeth with raised eyebrows.

Althea thought Ardeth could be joking with her, but when he had a serious expression upon his face and gave her a hard nod, she knew to go along with it for now. Although, the explanation by Ardeth about the whispers did interest Althea to research into the past further.

The sound of sets of feet coming into their direction drew their attention. The Medjai got into position to attack, but lighten up their stance when the Medjai that left before were back. They dragged someone by the arms behind them.

"Oh, that is Burns. He's one of the Americans." Althea pointed out once she caught sight of who the person was.

When two Medjai holding onto Burns arms brought him up into a standing position, Althea winced. She took a slight step back as she saw that Burns tongue and eyes were gone.

"The creature got him." Ardeth pointed out with frustration in his tone.

Althea walked forward, dodging Ardeth hand when he was trying to pull her back and away from Burns. He dropped his hands along his sides as Althea came to stop in front of Burns and began to observe the injuries closely.

"It is like the wounds are cauterized, but they still need to be treated with medicine to make sure that no infection sinks in." Althea quickly pointed out, reaching behind her to touch her back belt, but cursed as she remembered she ran into the underground without her small med kit pouch.

"His friends will treat it when they arrive." Ardeth said as he came up to stand beside Althea.

The sound of more pairs of feet made everyone to turn around to watch two more Medjai appear with Chamberlain in their grasps. The Medjai pushed the man to his knees, standing behind him. Chamberlain clenched the Book of the Dead to his chest.

"That is the book." Althea told Ardeth.

"Yes, and that woman read from it. She shouldn't have." Chamberlain said quickly, but shut his mouth as the Medjai stepped closer to him, which made him to shut his mouth.

The next sound they heard was the sound of yelling and then gunshots. The group turned to watch shadows along the walls. Ardeth pushed Althea behind him with his hand placed on the hilt of his sword. The other Medjai pulled the hammer back on their rifles, pointing them toward the hallway opening.

Out of the hallway in clear panic was Rick, Evy and Jonathan. In a few seconds, Henderson and Daniels came out of the hallway with horrified expressions. By all their faces, their was pure horror on them. It was obvious they witnessed and experienced something to make them terrified.

"Althea!" Rick shouted as he moved forward toward her, but some of the Medjai pointed their guns at him, which made Rick to raise his hands.

"Rick, I'm fine. Trust me." Althea told softly him.

"I told you to leave or die. You refused." Ardeth stepped forward, staring them all down, especially Rick.

"Now, you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed a creature that we have feared for more than three thousand years." Ardeth told them in a firm tone, disappointed that this had happened.

"Relax, I got him." Rick said casually, not liking how Ardeth wasn't lightening up the mood.

"No mortal weapon can kill this creature. He's not of this world." Ardeth said and stepped aside as he heard his men bring forth Burns to give him back to his American friends.

"You bastards." Daniels stared down Ardeth and the rest of the Medjai as Henderson and he held Daniels to him.

"What did you do to him?" Henderson asked.

"We saved him—saved him before the creature could finish his work. Now leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all." Ardeth warned them all then looked back at his men, commanding them with a few words of Arabic causing them to begin lowering their weapons and going into the tunnels.

"I must now go on the hunt and try and find a way to kill him." Ardeth said as he started to follow after his men to do what he said.

"I already told you. I got him." Rick said with a promising tone as Ardeth walked by him.

Turning to face Rick, Ardeth stared into his eyes and saw strength and honesty in Rick's eyes. Ardeth knew this man would try to do what he just informed him. Yet, Ardeth knew that they were dealing with no normal being.

"Know this. This creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop." Ardeth said, staring at Rick for a few seconds then he let his eyes flicker to Althea.

Althea stared back then bowed her head making Ardeth to turn on the heel of his feet to follow after his men down the tunnel and disappear from view.

Once they got the warning, they were all running out of the tunnels and outside to pack up their equipment and tie it off onto the camels. When they got onto the camels, they waited for no one else as they quickly rode out of the City to begin their journey back to Cairo, away from all of this.

As they rode, Rick got alongside Althea and stared at her with narrow, curious eyes.

"What, Rick?"

"Do you know that man?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"He stared at you, like—like he wanted to take you with him."

The observation comment by Rick made Althea to feel her face heat up at his words. She looked at Rick with raised eyebrows.

"Rick, he protected me with his men. That is it."

"Uh-huh." Rick said, not truly believing her comment.

Althea looked away from him and stared forward, hoping Ardeth would stay safe.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter!**

 **As a heads up, the chapters are long and will move through the story quickly. Although, the story will continue into a life after the movies.**

 **Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Thank You!**

 **P.S.**

 **Disclaimer once again…Disclaimer for the chapters before this chapter, this chapter and the future chapters:** **I do not own anything about** ** _The Mummy/The Mummy Returns/The Mummy_** **Series.  
I only own my original character (OC), Althea. **

**Thank You!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter:** Chaos Begins

 **…** **..**

 **…** **.. Days Later; Fort Brydon, Cairo: …..**

 **…** **..**

There was no boat to take the group back down the river and to Cairo. The group rode the whole way back to Cairo. They did not care how long it took as long as they got back in one piece.

Upon their entrance into the city gates, there was a dark grey cloud rolling in. Thunder was rumbling, and lightning was flashing throughout the sky. It made the group know it was what happened back at the city. They knew trouble was going to come.

For the time being, the group split up to go to a hotel near the apartment building where Evy and Jonathan lived. The group began to pack up everything they owned.

Althea snuck her way away from the group, and made her way to the museum. She knew Dr. Bey would be waiting for an explanation about what happened and was it the cause of the sudden change in the weather.

With a need to get to the museum quicker, Althea jogged at a fast pace to the museum. Althea slammed open the front doors and ran inside, where she gone to the back room. She made way up a couple of steps to step into a room where Althea saw Dr. Bey and Ardeth.

"Althea." Dr. Bey and Ardeth said at the same time.

"This is bad." Althea blurted out, dropping her bags onto the ground.

"I know, my dear. I knew that this was going to happen. Ardeth explained me everything that had happen and what you told him too. It appears I was right."

"About?" Althea moved closer to them, glancing at Ardeth for a split second then her attention was back on Dr. Bey as he was speaking again.

"That Ms. Carnahan brings nothing but complete chaos wherever she goes." Dr. Bey said, shaking his head.

Althea made no comment to say to that as Evy did read from the Book of the Dead, not knowing the consequences that it had brought upon them.

"Your brother is a stubborn one." Ardeth told Althea making her to sigh and nod her head.

"Yep, he is, but he means well."

"This creature is powerful, Althea." Ardeth stepped up to her, which made Dr. Bey to glance in between the two with raised eyebrows.

"I understand that. But you know that Rick is going to help with Evy and Jonathan for the ride." Althea told him, resting her hands on her hips in a challenging manner that made Ardeth to step back and nod his head.

"I had a feeling that will happen."

The sound of banging and screaming outside caused the three to move toward a window to see fireballs falling down from the sky and destroying anything it hit.

"The plagues have started."

"Wasn't blood the second one?" Althea mumbled.

"We don't have a water fountain around here or any liquids around us to see. But I am sure that must've happened already." Ardeth replied, standing beside Althea at the window as they were watching the chaotic scene unfold.

The three stepped back into the back room where Ardeth turned to face Dr. Bey, about to start discussing about a plan, but did not get to do so. Familiar voices were heard inside the museum.

"That is Evy." Althea whispered as she stood with Dr. Bey and Ardeth.

The three turned to face the doorway to the room as Evy appeared first with Jonathan and Rick. The Americans trailed behind them.

"You?" Evy gasped at the sight of Ardeth causing Rick, Jonathan, Daniel and Henderson to pull out their guns to point at Ardeth.

"Ms. Carnahan. Gentlemen."

"What is he doing here?" Evy kept her eyes on Ardeth, not trusting him after his Medjai and him had been forcing them out of the City.

"Althea, what are you doing?" Rick said, staring at her as she was standing beside Ardeth.

Althea did not reply to Rick, only stared at him with a serious expression. She did not want to tell him the whole truth about her presence here. Althea knew Rick would get upset when she would inform him of her role within their group during their time spent in the City. Although, Althea hoped Dr. Bey would clear it all up in his own way.

"Do you really want to know, or would you prefer to just shoot us?" Dr. Bey asked calmly.

Slowly, Rick put his gun away and the others followed his actions.

"After what I just saw, I'm willing to go on a little faith here." Rick said.

 **…** **..**

They all moved to an area where they could sit down in refurbished ancient chairs. Once everyone was situated, Dr. Bey began to talk about the Medjai and about the City.

"We are part of an ancient secret society. For over three thousand years we have guarded the City of the Dead. We're sworn at manhood to do any and all in our part to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being from being reborn into this world." Dr. Bey said as he sat himself down in a seat where Ardeth stood on one side and Althea on the other side.

When Dr. Bey mentioned about being sworn into Medjai at manhood, Althea made a slight face as she was a woman. A woman that was seen more as an associate than an actual warrior to join on the battlefield and guard with the others. Then again, Althea might be the first to bend the rules and get to help out with the guarding or fighting part.

"And now, because of you, we have failed." Ardeth stated bluntly, staring mostly at Evy when he said this as Evy was the one that read from the Book to bring Imhotep back.

"And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Evy said as she emphasized on how the Medjai attacked the boat first and killed people then came into the camp, killing a few then giving them a warning.

"To stop this creature? Let me think." Dr. Bey pretended to have a deep thinking look on his face.

"Yes!" Ardeth and Dr. Bey said at the same time.

There was no response from Evy as she began to pace.

"Question. Why doesn't he like cats?" Rick asked.

"Cats are the guardians of the underworld. He will fear them until he is fully regenerated." Dr. Bey answered.

"And then he will fear nothing." Ardeth added in.

"You know how he gets himself fully regenerated?" Daniels said with fear in his tone.

"By killin' everyone who opened that chest." Henderson said lowly.

"And suckin' 'em dry! That's how." Daniel exclaimed.

"Jonathan, will you stop playing with that." Evy snapped at Jonathan, who was in the model of a chariot and was playing with a bow that was in it.

"When I saw him alive at Hamunaptra, he called me Anck-su-namun. And then just now in Mr. Burns's quarters, he tried to kiss me." Evy explained to them, not understanding the fully story of this Imhotep and why he was in the position that he was in.

"It's because of his love for Anck-su-namun that he was cursed. Apparently, even after three thousand years—"

"He is still in love with her." Ardeth completed Dr. Bey's sentence.

Ardeth eyes flicker over to glance at Althea as he rested his hand upon the back of the chair Dr. Bey sat in. Althea eyebrows raised as she start at Ardeth. Ardeth looked away from her as quick as possible, which made her to narrow her eyes now.

Althea knew she needed to talk with Ardeth alone, especially after the fact Rick informed her about the way he noticed Ardeth stare at her. Then there was the glance Ardeth gave her a few moments ago. She had a feeling there was something up with him involving her.

"Yes, well, that's very romantic, but what has it got to do with me?" Evy said, clenching her locket.

"Perhaps he will once again try to raise her from the dead." Ardeth looked down at Dr. Bey, giving him his opinion.

"Yes. And it appears he already chosen his human sacrifice." Dr. Bey said causing both Ardeth and he to look over at Evy to show that Imhotep was after her for that reason.

"Bad luck, old mum." Jonathan mumbled as he stared at Evy.

"On the contrary, it may just give us the time we need to kill the creature." Dr. Bey said as he stood up from his chair.

"We will need all the help we can get. His powers are growing." Ardeth said as he stepped forward, staring up at the high window close to the ceiling.

The group watched and couldn't believe their eyes as they watched the sun being covered by the moon; an eclipse.

"And he stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt." Jonathan rephrased a quote.

The room soon gone dark with only the torches keeping light in the room.

The group began to head toward the front of the building to search for the location of Chamberlain and receive him before the creature found him and sucked him dry.

"Althea, you staying?" Rick asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, what is going on with you?" Rick asked as he stepped up to her.

The others came to a halt at the entrance of the building, not wanting to leave without Rick. Althea and Rick stood away from them, standing face to face.

Althea glanced over at Dr. Bey, who gave her a small nod. A nod that told her that she could tell Rick about her role in all of this.

"I'm like the heir to Dr. Bey. With him being a part of the Medjai and being the contact in Cairo, I am learning from him."

"You mean, you are a part of this society?"

"In a way, yes."

"And you couldn't tell us?"

"No, like he said, it's secretive. It doesn't make me any different, Rick. Just that I have an extra skill point."

"You were traveling with us, you could've told us this would of happen. This could've been prevented." Rick snapped.

Althea could not help but take a step back from Rick. She does not remember a time Rick ever snapped at her.

A hand came to rest lightly on her lower back, which Althea looked up to stare at Ardeth. Ardeth glared at Rick, who glared back in return.

"We told her to keep it a secret. It isn't her fault for she didn't fully know the whole story of the location of Imhotep and that the book awoken the creature. You knew as much as she that it wasn't safe to go back there. Do not raise your voice at her." Ardeth defended Althea.

Rick stared at Ardeth as he noticed the way Ardeth defended Althea.

"Rick, it's not her fault." Evy said gently from behind.

A low sigh escaped from Rick as he glanced at everyone to see understanding on their faces, accepting the fact it was not Althea's fault. Rick remembered the amount of times Althea would say it was not a good idea or not to do something during their time in the City. Yet, everyone ignored her warnings.

"Althea—"

"Go, Rick. You're wasting time." Althea cut him off, turning away from him.

Althea stepped out of Ardeth's hold to make her way toward a hallway that led to the library section of the museum.

Rick was about to go after Althea with his right hand outstretch, but he dropped it as Althea vanished around a corner. Rick glanced at Ardeth with narrowed eyes.

"I don't know what is going on between you two, but you better make sure that she is safe."

"I have been keeping her safe for the past couple of years now. Don't you worry." Ardeth told Rick in a firm tone.

Ardeth walked away from Rick to head into the direction Althea walked off to.

For some reason, Rick felt a bit of jealously swarm inside him at the thought of Ardeth being able to protect Althea while Rick wasn't there to protect her like an older brother supposed to.

Shaking his head, Rick stormed by everyone and began to lead them back through the streets back to the hotel building.

 **…** **..**

 **…** **..**

 **…** **..**

In the library, Althea was pacing around and trying to calm her nerves down. In the corner of her eyes, Althea saw Ardeth appear into the room.

"Althea, he didn't mean it."

"But he was thinking it." Althea pointed out, biting her bottom lip and pausing in her pacing.

Ardeth walked up to her and stood in front of her, which drew her attention upward to make eye contact.

"He will apologize for it. Not to drop the subject or anything, but I believe we got a much worst situation at the moment." Ardeth told her.

"Yes, you're right. But before we think of ways about vanquishing the creature, we are going to have a talk, Ardeth." Althea said firmly, staring Ardeth down with narrow eyes, which made him to take a step back from her.

The thought of how Ardeth was toward her throughout the years started to flash through her mind. Images of how Ardeth acted toward her, how he treated her back in the City. The way Ardeth looked at her when Dr. Bey had explained about Imhotep past lover.

As Althea stared at Ardeth, she saw a flash of nervousness pass through his eyes. She never saw Ardeth nervous before. Althea had a feeling he knew what she wanted to talk about.

"About what?"

"About you! About the way you have been acting around me lately or rather forever since day one when we met."

"Althea—"

"You always sneak around to spook me. You always have to see me before talking to Dr. Bey and stand close to me."

"Althea let me—" Ardeth tried to cut in, but Althea waved her hand at him.

"Lately, you have been getting extra close to me and even laying your hand on my shoulder, caressing my cheek or holding my chin as you talk to me. If that isn't intimate, I don't know what is."

"Althea would you—"

"And then the way you keep eyeing me a lot lately."

Ardeth tried to open his mouth to speak, but shut it as Althea held both her hands up as she was not finish yet.

"Also, what was that in there when Dr. Bey and you were talking about Imhotep's lover and how he still loves her. You looked right at me."

"Althea I wish to—"

"If that doesn't emphasize anything then I don't know what you are trying to get across to me. But I have a good idea and I want to hear an explanation Ardeth because—"

"ALTHEA!" Ardeth exclaimed as he spread out his arms.

Althea shut her mouth, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Would you allow me to speak, woman?"

"Who are you calling woman, man!?" Althea replied sharply.

The adrenaline was still going through her system and she was on a roll of ranting.

A huff escaped from Ardeth, and he took a long step forward to stand very closely to her. He grabbed either side of her face, held her in place and pressed his lips against her own.

Immediately, Althea went wide eyes in shock.

Ardeth pulled back to stare into Althea eyes, still holding her face in place.

"Althea?"

"I think that explained everything that I had just ranted about." Althea whispered.

Althea leaned up on her tippy toes to press her lips against Ardeth's lips, enjoying how nice their lips mold together, and how warm his lips were against her lips. She felt Ardeth hands drop away from her face, but slid down her shoulder until his hands came to rest against her sides. He pressed his body against her own.

Her hands rested against his firm chest, which she was assuming his chest pectorals were solid muscle due to all the training and fighting he does.

Ardeth pulled away to brush a few strands of hair back away from her face. He stared down at her with a soft grin.

"How long did you wanted to do that?"

"The first few times that I saw and got to know you. What about you?"

"The first night we met."

"Really?" Ardeth eyebrows raised with a smug smile.

"Don't have that smug look on your face. You are handsome and to fight me that night, I guess it made me instantly attracted to you." Althea admitted to him.

The smug smile on Ardeth slid off, but he kept a small grin on his lips. He reached up to lay his hand against her cheek, staring into her eyes where the color of her eyes brightly stuck out. Ardeth mentioned many times to her that he never saw green eyes before. Her eyes were a emerald green color with dark blue around the pupils.

"There is something that I wish to ask of you."

"What is that?" Althea tilted her head to the side as she was curious at what Ardeth wanted to ask of her.

There were a couple of times Althea noticed Ardeth would always want to speak to her about something, but they were always interrupted. It was a subject Ardeth would bring up, and mention about his father pushing him to talk to Althea about it.

"I wish to ask—"

Ardeth stop speaking there was footfalls coming toward the library. The two pulled a part to stare at the entrance of the library where Dr. Bey appeared.

"Am I interrupting?"

"We were just finishing with talking. Ardeth was comforting me after the whole Rick thing."

"I see. Speaking of Mr. O'Connell, they just appeared back. They seem not successful with Chamberlain and I only see one American now with them."

Both Ardeth and Althea looked at each other before they followed Dr. Bey out of the library. They would need to meet with the others to figure out a plan to stop the creature.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter.**

 **Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Thank You!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter:** Reasonable Timing

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When Dr. Bey, Ardeth and Althea met up with Rick, Evy, Jonathan, and Daniel, the three were instantly bombarded with the story about how Imhotep got Chamberlain and Henderson. But now, Imhotep was going after Evy again, but Rick arrived in time with a cat to scare the creature off.

The group walked up stairs to the second level of the museum, where a broken piece of a wall with hieroglyphics was on display. The particular wall was from the City and the wall gave hints about the location of where the other book was located.

"Yes, well, according to legend, the black book that the Americans found at Hamunaptra is supposed to bring people back from the dead. Until now it was a notion I was unwilling to believe." Evy explained.

Althea walked beside Ardeth, who walked alongside Dr. Bey. Althea could feel Rick's eyes on her, but whenever she took a glance at him, Rick would look away to stare at Evy and listen to her talk.

"Believe it, sister. That's what brought our buddy back to life." Rick said dryly, not enjoying all of this.

"Yes, and I'm thinking if the black book can bring dead people to life—"

"Then maybe the gold book can kill him." Rick cut Evy off saying.

"That is the myth."

"Yeah, everyone thought all of this was a myth, but now look." Althea blurted out making Ardeth to glance at her with raised eyebrows.

Althea gave a shrug of her shoulders at Ardeth for his look toward her reply.

"It's true." Althea whispered to him.

A small grin came on Ardeth lips before it disappeared.

"Now we just have to find where the gold book is hidden." Evy told everyone.

As the group walked up to the second floor, they came to a pause as they heard a loud sound outside. They stood still and listen, realizing it was chanting from the streets outside. The group walked over to the large window that gone along the stairs and they looked down to see a large group. The group of people were covered with boils, some of them had torches and others had tools for weapons.

"Imhotep. Imhotep." The group was chanting over and over again, and showing they were under a mind control.

"Last, but not least, my favorite plague—boils and sores." Jonathan said, pointing out yet another part of the plague to the rest of the group.

"They have become his slaves. So it has begun, the beginning of the end." Ardeth stated.

"Not quite yet, it hasn't. Come on." Evy told them as she led the group over to the large stone that had hieroglyphics engraved all over it.

The crowd began to bang against the front door of the museum.

Evy was reading the top of the ancient text, Althea was reading the middle part of the stone and Dr. Bey was reading the bottom. The three were trying to locate any evidence or hints about the books.

"According to Bembridge scholars, the Golden Book of Amun-Ra is located inside the statue of Anubis." Evy pointed out as she traced her fingers over the text

"That's where we found the black book." Daniel stated.

"Exactly."

"Well, looks like the old boys at Bembridge were mistaken."

"Yes, they mixed the books up. Mixed up where they were buried. So if the black book is inside the statue of Anubis, then the golden book must be inside—"Evy paused as she continue to scan through the writing.

There was a loud crack sound down on the main level, and the loud shouts of the crowd. Althea stood up to walk over to the balcony and looked down at the museum foyer to see the crowd making their way in.

"Come on, Evy. Faster." Jonathan came up to her with a panic.

"Patience is a virtue."

"Not right now it isn't." Rick stated sarcastically.

"Uh, I think I'll go get the car started." Jonathan said, running off to go find a way outside without getting caught to start up the car.

"If the black book was buried underneath Anubis then what's the other name of the statue?" Althea blurted out of nowhere as the thought suddenly hit her out of nowhere.

Both Ardeth and Rick turned to look at Althea as she liked back at them with a curious expression.

"Yes, that does sound right." Ardeth mumbled.

"I have a point. Isn't it Horus?" Althea asked as she stared over at Evy, who was paying no mind at the answer.

"I've got it. The Golden Book of Amun-Ra is at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus. Take that, Bembridge scholars."

"Told you." Althea glanced between Rick and Ardeth with a smirk.

Ardeth reached out to touch Althea on the arm, but they looked over at Evy as she celebrated her discovery of the answer they needed. As for Althea, Evy confirmed her guess.

From the side, Rick eyed Ardeth's hand on Althea arm. There was a curious look upon Rick's face as he stared between the two.

With the answer they needed, the group ran out of the building with Dr. Bey as the leader. They ran outside and straight toward the car where Jonathan sat in the driver's seat, waiting for them.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Daniel shouted as he sprinted ahead of them with fear etched on his face.

Everyone jumped into the car, but turned to look at the entrance of the museum where they saw Beni appear. He caught sight of them and began to shout for the presence of Imhotep. It also made the group to realize that Beni was officially affiliated with the creature, and he was giving their location away.

When the sight of Imhotep appeared in the large window on the second floor, the group could only stare with a mixture of shock and fear. When Imhotep eyed them and then let out an inhuman roar, the group tensed up. There eyes gone to the crowd covered in boils, appearing out of the museum to go after them.

Rick stood up in his seat and he pointed straight at Beni with anger.

"You're gonna get yours, Beni! You hear me? You're gonna get yours!" Rick shouted as Jonathan took off down the driveway of the museum.

"Oh, like I've never heard that before!" Beni shouted back just before the car turned the corner of the wall to get onto the streets.

"I really don't like him." Althea muttered as she shot a glare over her shoulder at Beni then sat herself down, but shot back up as she realized that she sat down on Ardeth lap.

"Althea, sit." Ardeth pulled her back down onto his lap, not wanting her to fall out of the car with the mind controlled crowd all around them.

Jonathan drove fast through the narrow streets, but he then hit the brakes out of nowhere. The group gone to yell at him, but halted their words as they saw the reason why Jonathan slammed the brakes. There was a large mind controlled, boil covered crowd blocking a street.

"Aaah!" Jonathan shouted as Rick slammed his foot on top of Jonathan's foot that was on the gas pedal.

The car jolted forward, heading straight toward the crowd. It was a situation they could not avoid. They could not stop because if they did, Imhotep would surely win and take control over everything.

"Hang on!" Rick shouted as the crowd charged them while they drove straight at them.

The bodies of the brainwashed people hit the car with thuds. A few fell off, not able to grab onto the car while others managed to cling to the car. Everyone in the car began to throw punches or tried to shove the brainwashed people off the car.

When they got through the crowd, there were a great amount of brainwashed people on the car and tried to pull the group out of the car. There were punches, body slamming, shoving and anything from the group to get the brainwashed people off the car and to not pull them out of the car.

A screamed escaped from Althea as someone grabbed a hold of her hair. She swung around with her right fist and punched someone straight in the face, but they still did not let go of her hair. That was until a pair of hands grabbed the person, slammed their face in the trunk of the car a few times and then thrown them off. Althea turned to see Ardeth was the one to protect her.

"Thanks."

"I will always protect you." Ardeth assured her.

"Behind you!" Althea shouted as she caught sight of another brainwashed person appear behind Ardeth.

Althea right fist shot forward at the same time that Ardeth turned around to shoot his right fist out too. Together, their fists collided into the face of the brainwashed person, who tumbled off the car and into the streets.

"And I can say that I'll protect you too." Althea replied with a breathless smile before her expression gone serious again to shove another brainwashed person off the car.

"I wish to ask you the question."

"Ardeth, is this really the time to ask me a question?" Althea asked him as she poked someone in the eye and then shoved them off, wincing as the brainwashed person collide with a food stand.

"We keep getting interrupted and I came to the—argh." Ardeth slammed his fist a few times in another face and gave a sharp left uppercut to send the person off the car.

"To the conclusion to just ask you the question during the interruption." Ardeth shouted.

"That seems reasonable." Althea shouted over the roar of everyone yelling, fighting and roaring of the car engine.

"I wish to ask you for your hand in marriage." Ardeth said, finally asking the question he had been wanting to ask her for a long time.

"WHAT!?" Rick shouted from the front seat, looking back to shoot Ardeth a disbelief look.

Rick had to face forward again to slam a brainwashed person face into the front of the car and shoved them off to collide with a pole they were passing on the street.

"Is that really the time to ask such a serious question!?" Althea shouted.

Althea could not believe that this was the question Ardeth had wanted to ask of her, but they had always been interrupted whenever he tried to.

"You said it was reasonable to ask." Ardeth shouted over the loudness.

"I did. But I did not know it was that. This is serious."

"Oh I love weddings! But really, is this the time!" Jonathan shouted before he yelled as someone tried to grab him, but Evy poked that person in the eye and Rick shoved them off the car.

"I felt that I should just ask you and hear your answer if this doesn't go well." Ardeth shouted, glancing at Althea and grabbing hold of her left hand as she was right hand dominate, so she was still able to throw a punch.

Staring at Ardeth to see that he was dead serious and was waiting for an answer, Althea ran through everything about her times with Ardeth. Althea knew that he wouldn't rush the date of the wedding until it was the right time to have one. Then the thought of his people came into mind made Althea to wonder if they approve of his choice in her.

"But what about your people? Do they—"

"My baba approves of you. That is saying a lot from the former chieftain." Ardeth shouted.

"And I approved too as your guardian." Dr. Bey shouted as he took swings here and there.

Althea stared at Ardeth as she shoved another person off the car, keeping her eyes on him.

"This is serious."

"Yes, yes it is Althea."

"Is this seriously happening?" Rick asked, not believing that this was actually happening at the moment.

But this moment made Rick to realize how much he missed in his little sister's life.

"Yes." Althea said, making her decision.

"Yes?" Ardeth eyes widen.

"Yes." Althea nodded.

Ardeth smiled and pulled her into a hug her, but he pulled away to fight off two men that tried to grab the back of his top.

"Hey! O'Connell! O'Connell!"

Both Althea and Rick looked back to see Daniel being ripped out of the car by two brainwashed people.

Althea lunged forward to grab hold of Daniel's legs, but with them turning a corner, the force began to pull him off with Althea holding on. Ardeth lunged forward to grab around her waist and held her close causing her to lose hold of Daniel and he was tumbling along the street.

They watched as they drove further and further away as Daniel began to shoot at the brainwashed people that got near him, but more and more began to circle around him. They knew there was nothing they could do for him now.

Taking another sharp corner that made Jonathan to lose control, they crashed into crates and barrels of water. It caused whatever brainwashed people to either fall off the car or knocked out. The group got out of the vehicle quickly. The crowd soon charged them. Rick started to wave a torch around to keep the brainwashed crowd back, but it was no use. The group found themselves at a dead end of the street with nowhere to go.

"Imhotep. Imhotep." The crowd began to chat as they paused before them, circling around them to keep them from escaping.

When the crowd stop chanting and a section open up to let a man through with Beni beside him, they knew it was Imhotep. He was fully regenerated now.

"It's the creature. He's fully regenerated." Dr. Bey pointed out.

Walking closer to them, Imhotep began speaking in ancient Egyptian as he was staring straight at Evy.

"Come with me my princess. It is time to make you mine forever." Beni translated for Imhotep causing them to stare at Evy then at Imhotep with shocked and concerned expression.

"For all eternity, idiot." Evy corrected Beni causing Beni to look at the ground, most likely processing the words and realizize that he did mess up on the last words.

Once again, Imhotep began speaking again and he held out his hand once he was done talking.

"Take my hand, and I will spare your friends." Beni translated again.

"Oh, dear. Have you got any bright ideas?" Evy asked Rick as she stood beside him.

"I'm thinkin'. I'm thinkin'." Rick said, gripping the torch in his hands, harder and harder as he was trying to come up with something.

"You better think of something fast, because if he turns me into a mummy, you're the first one I'm coming after." Evy said as she stared at Rick, who realized what Evy was about to do.

"No!" Rick pulled out his gun, pointing it at Imhotep, who only grabbed Evy closer to him once she stepped up to him.

"Don't!" Evy snapped at Rick, not wanting him to do anything that would make Imhotep to change his mind.

"No!" Ardeth moved forward, uncovering Althea hiding behind him.

With Althea in sight, Imhotep eyed her and he went a bit wide eyes then smirked before he held out his other hand, beginning to talk once again.

"Azalea, healer, come to me too." Beni translated.

"Azalea? No, you have to be mistaken." Althea shook her head.

Ardeth glanced at Althea with wide eyes then at Imhotep then back at Althea. Althea moved closer to Ardeth as she did not want to go. Ardeth brought his left hand back to press Althea against his back as he held Rick's arm with the gun with his right hand.

"No." Althea said firmly again, which only made Imhotep to let out a small growl.

Seeing how this was going, Evy quickly bumped in to make sure that Imhotep only took her and not Althea as Evy wanted to keep them all safe.

"He still has to take to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual." Evy said causing the once attention on Althea to shift back to Rick as he held Imhotep at gunpoint.

"She is right. Live today, fight tomorrow." Ardeth assured Rick while he continued to use his body as a shield to keep Althea pressed against his back.

Rick tucked his gun back into the shoulder holster and clenched the torch in both his hands again. A snarl came onto Rick face as he stared Imhotep down and pointed the torch at him.

"I'll be see you again." Rick threaten Imhotep, showing his protectiveness over Evy.

A smirk was Imhotep reply as he began to lead Evy away, but he took one last glance at Althea with this look in his eyes that he still wanted to take her with him.

"Evelyn." Rick shot forward, but Ardeth let go of Althea to pull Rick back and to hold him in place from going after Evy.

"Hey, that's mine." Jonathan said as Beni patted him down and found the key, taking it from Jonathan with a sleazy grin.

"Thank you." Beni chuckled as he waved the key in front of Jonathan's face.

They heard Imhotep shout out a command.

"Oh no." Althea whispered as it took her a few seconds to process the words that Imhotep just shouted.

The crowd began to chant Imhotep over and over again.

"What did he say!?" Rick shouted.

"He commanded them to kill us." Althea answered as she stood side to side with Ardeth and Dr. Bey.

"Goodbye, my friend." Beni said to Rick with a smirk.

"Come here, you little—" Rick shot out of Ardeth's hold yet Beni quickly ran off and vanished through the crowd that enclosed closer onto them.

As they got closer, Rick threw his torch aside causing the group to look at him with raised eyebrows. They watched as Rick knelt down to the ground, pulled up a sewage drain cap off the ground to show the sewage system underneath.

"Come on!" Rick shouted, grabbing Jonathan first.

"What about my sister?"

"We're gonna get her back!" Rick said, shoving Jonathan down first.

Rick turned where Ardeth pushed Althea forward for her to go next.

Before Althea was being pushed down into the hole, she saw Dr. Bey move away from them. He had pulled out his sword to show his intention. That he was going to stay behind and fight.

"What are you d—AHHH!" Althea was tossed down and she fell into the darkness before she landed hard on top of Jonathan causing him to fall back down onto the ground.

"Move." Jonathan said as they saw Rick about to push Ardeth down.

Both Jonathan and Althea crawled away as Ardeth came down, landing then quickly rolling to cushion his fall. He moved out of the way in time as Rick came down.

"Let's move."

"But—but what about—" Althea paused as Rick shook his head at her.

"No, no. we have to go back." Althea said, moving to find some sort of ladder to go back up.

Ardeth stopped her by his arms wrapped around her waist, tugging her away and down the tunnel after Rick and Jonathan.

"Ardeth, let me go. We have to get him."

"Althea." Ardeth put her in front of him to cup her cheeks where he felt tears on them.

"He sacrifice himself to protect us. To protect you. Don't let that go to vain." Ardeth whispered to her, upset about Dr. Bey too, but he had to be strong for Althea.

Althea swallowed hard as she felt the tears continuously flow down her cheeks. A few seconds passed until she gave a nod in silence.

Ardeth held her hand as he began to lead Althea through the tunnel, following Rick and Jonathan as they were trying to find another man cover to use to get out of the sewage system.

Glancing back behind her, Althea shut her eyes as she thought of her guardian sacrificing himself for them. Althea thanked him and thanked him with him raising her. Looking back forward, Althea wiped her cheeks dry with her free hand and let Ardeth lead her the way forward for now.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter!**

 **Crazy chapter, I know.  
To clear some things up, Ardeth and Althea had known each other for a while. Sort of grew up into adulthood together. The two always showed their interest in one another, but never fully act out on their feelings. In a way, they are in that courting stage before marriage.  
Also, since the chapters with the movie scenes are moving quick, I wanted to hurry up with the characters relationship development.**

 **Enjoy!**

 ** _Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow the Story!_**

 **Thank You!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter:** It Is A Rescue-Save the World Sort of Mission

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The brainwashed crowd vanished when the sun rose. That allowed Rick, Jonathan, Ardeth and Althea to make their way back to the area where they were last night. There was no sight of Dr. Bey's body. That upset Althea as she wanted to give him a proper burial.

The three noted people began to appear throughout the area yet they weren't brainwashed. It was as if that the presence of Imhotep brought the brainwashed spell to happen.

Getting back into Jonathan's car, Rick simply told Jonathan to drive and to listen to his direction. The ride was silent the whole time as Jonathan was worried about his little sister, Rick was worried for the safety of Evy, who he obviously had feelings for. Ardeth and Althea were mourning for Dr. Bey, and had concern for the whole Imhotep incident going on.

It felt a good while before they appeared at an area that had a sign that said Royal Air Force Giza. There was walls around the area which only had a building and what appeared to be a landing site with a plane station outside the building. There were kids around and tents in the distances and there were some kids herding goats across the land.

Rick led the way as he led them out of the walls and across the sand dunes where they saw feet tracks going up to one sand dune. They came to see a man on the sand dune with an umbrella over another man that was dressed in military uniform and drinking tea while listening to Spanish music.

"Morning, Winston, uh, a word?" Rick raised his hand up to the older man.

Once they got up to this Winston man, who gave a look over at Althea. Ardeth stepped in front of Althea, especially the twisting feeling of another man eyeing her. For Althea was technically his fiancée now.

Rick gave a small summary of what had been going down causing the old man known as Winston. The older pilot stared at Rick, bringing his cup of tea to his lips, and taking a few steps then setting the cup back down onto the platter.

"So what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corps?" Winston asked, raising the cup up to his lips again.

"Not a damn thing." Rick replied.

That answer for some reason perked up Winston interest as he quickly set the tea down onto the side table he had on the side of his chair.

"Is it dangerous?"

"You probably won't live through it." Rick replied truthfully.

"By Jove, do you really think so?"

"Well, everybody else we bumped into has died. Why not you?" Jonathan said casually.

"Nice one, Jonathan. Nice one." Althea mumbled, shaking her head.

"What's the, uh—what's the challenge then?"

"Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, and save the world." Rick repeated in a simple form once again.

"Oh! Winston Havelock at your service, sir." Winston said, chuckling and then saluting Rick.

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"Why have I been strapped to the wing?" Althea screamed.

"Because I'm the one that handles the machine gun best." Rick shouted over the wind at Althea.

Since Winston plane was only two seats, Winston was obviously in one to pilot. Rick was in the back seat with the machine gun with the leather helmet on and goggles on. The other three that had no seats were strapped to either side of the wings with leather straps.

On the left wing was Jonathan and on the right wing together was Ardeth and Althea, strapped together. They were pressed side to side with each other.

They flew higher up and took a turn, causing Althea to drop her head and shut her eyes as she was clenching the edge of the wing. A whistle made Althea to look up with Ardeth to see Rick was trying to get their attention.

"How you doing?"

Althea shook her head and dropped her head again. Ardeth was grinning as he was finding this experience amazing.

Hearing a roaring sound, Althea looked up and immediately frowned at the sight of a tornado of sand heading right toward them and then moved off ahead of them.

The sight of the City of the Dead made Althea to be thankful that this was almost over. Althea glanced to her right at Ardeth to see the grin on his lips. She couldn't read the emotions in his eyes as he had the black shaded goggle lens on.

There was some shouting over the wind that Althea couldn't understand, but she began screaming with everyone else as they made a dive over a cliff. Hearing a booming sound behind them, Althea glanced over her left shoulder to see a wall of sand coming at them with a face forming.

"OH MY GOD!" Althea screamed causing Ardeth to stare at her then looked behind.

By his face tensed up, Althea knew that Ardeth was going wide eyes behind those goggles.

Rick began firing the machine gun at the sand wall that had the face of Imhotep appearing, clearly showing who was the one controlling the sand wall.

"IT IS NOT WORKING RICHARD!" Althea screamed.

She was already horrified with flying on a wing of a plane, but seeing how the sand wall with the face was getting closer and closer to them, she was really freaking out.

The sand face soon open its mouth and consumed them into the sand wall.

Althea bowed her head, clenching the wing with white knuckles and keeping her mouth shut to not get any sand in her mouth. The plane was shaking about and the engine was appearing to be pushing to the breaking point. When the plane started to do barrel rolls, they all began to scream as it got faster and faster in the barrel rolls. Their stomachs twisted and turned at a harsh pace.

Suddenly the sand dropped off. They were flying low to the ground, but the plane engine was sputtering as it had used too much power to get through that sand storm and there was sand inside the engine too.

It soon tilted to the side as it went over a sand dune. They all quickly braced themselves as they collided into the side of another sand dune and slid down it to a slightly level hard ground. Sand and smoke puffed up all around them.

Althea felt the leather was loosen on the wing causing her to roll off. She spat out sand from her mouth. She felt her body ache a bit at the impact in the sand dune. Althea crawled away from the wreckage and up the sand dune.

Ardeth stood up, wavering on his feet, groaning and pulling the leather cap off and goggles, tossing it away.

"I think I'm going to puke." Althea said before she actually did began to throw up due to the twist and turns of the plane, which made her very dizzy. The impact did not help either.

Hearing a thud beside her, Althea saw Ardeth on his knees to rub her back, but he was off balance still and he had fallen over in the sand. Althea spit out the aftertaste of throw up and she pushed sand over it then turn to stare at Ardeth. He pushed himself back up on his feet, slowly regaining his balance.

"Excuse me. Um, a little help would be useful, if it's not too much trouble!" Jonathan yelled from his spot on his wing where he was still strapped in and hung upside.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Rick moved over to Jonathan to help him out.

Althea soon stood up, throwing off the leather cap helmet and goggles, watching as Rick was helping Jonathan. Ardeth went to the plane to take the machine gun Thompson off the back of it to have as his weapon.

"Winston. Hey, Winston." Rick moved over to Winston, who was still in his pilot seat and not moving.

Seeing Rick knelt down beside Winston and touch the side of his neck, he pulled his hand away and glanced at Jonathan, who made a small nod. That made Althea to know that Winston did not make it through the crash landing.

A creaking sound echo around them before the main part of the plane that Winston was still strapped in began to sink into the ground.

"Quicksand! Get back! It is quicksand." Ardeth shouted at all of them.

Ardeth quickly moved out of the area of the wreckage and toward the area where it was harder with rocks with Althea beside him.

Rick and Jonathan came jogging over to them. The four of them watched as the plane sink into the ground in a quick manner and the whole thing soon went under. Rick gave a salute to Winston before he bent down to pick up his bag with ammo and guns, slapped Jonathan on the chest to indicate they were to start walking.

The four began to make their way toward the City of the Dead that was in their line of sight.

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Once inside the City, they gone underground where they came to an entrance that they have to get through, but the entrance was blocked off by piled of rocks.

Rick, Ardeth and Althea began to push and throw rocks off to make another passageway for their bodies to fit through.

"Uh, I'd take those bigger stones first. And take them from the top, otherwise the whole thing will cave in on us. Come on. Put your backs into it." Jonathan commanded them as he stood back, holding a torch and doing absolutely nothing.

The three stood up, panting and sweating to stare hard at Jonathan, daring him to continue his commanding.

"Yes, well, you've got the idea. Chop-Chop." Jonathan said nervously, knowing that he was dealing with three people that could easily take him down within seconds.

Turning back to pushing the rocks away, Jonathan went on to entertaining himself.

"I say! Gents and lady, you should come and have a look at this." Jonathan said, but the three ignored him until he started to scream.

"What?" Rick asked.

They turned around to see Jonathan yell about his arm, waving his arm around.

"My arm! My arm!" Jonathan held out the arm toward them.

Ardeth grabbed a hold of Jonathan's other arm to keep him still while Rick ripped open Jonathan's shirt to see a lump moving underneath his skin and heading toward his head.

"Whoa!" Rick shouted.

Ardeth let go as he did not expect that, but he quickly grabbed hold of Jonathan again.

"Do something!" Jonathan shouted as he kept his eyes on it.

"Rick, it's a scarab! Get it out of him now!" Althea shouted as she stood behind both Ardeth and Rick, watching the whole thing over Rick's left shoulder.

"Hold it." Rick commanded as Jonathan began to freak out and jerk around.

"Do something! Do something! Not that! Not that!"

Ardeth quickly got a better hold of Jonathan and kept him still. Althea grabbed hold of Jonathan's free arm so that he didn't swing at Rick, especially when Rick took out his butterfly knife from his pocket.

Rick stuck the knife into Jonathan's shoulder underneath the scarab then began to push upward. There was a small pop sound and the scarab landed on the ground away from them. They stepped behind Rick as he pulled out one of his handguns and pointed his gun at the flesh eating insect that came running at them. With a single shot, Rick destroyed the insect with precise aim.

With the insect gone, Rick and Ardeth got back to work on the rocks while Althea helped Jonathan to wrap the injury on his shoulder. Of course Jonathan complained about the injury, but shut up when Althea shot him a glare as she was not in the mood for his complaining as she helped him.

By the time Althea finished up and she made sure that Jonathan was perfectly fine, Rick and Ardeth got enough rocks out of the way to allow them through.

They walked through a small hallways until they came to a crack into the wall. Rick went first and threw the torch into the sandy room with his bag of weapons then jumped down first.

Moving through the room, Althea pointed to the right where there was a mirror shining through the darkness. Rick pointed his gun at it and shot it causing it to tilt down to flash light across the room and soon the whole room lit up before them.

Althea mouth dropped open with awe and wide eyes. Ardeth stared around with a disbelief look. Rick was trying to keep a serious look on his face yet he appeared to be speechless too like Jonathan was.

Before their eyes, where three out of four of them were in disbelief at the sight that welcome them, was a huge room that was completely filled with all sorts of gold treasures that sparkle throughout the room.

Moving their way down steps to ground level, Rick handed Althea two handguns and ammunition to tuck away in her pant pockets. Althea kept both guns in her hands as she stared around at their surroundings, still not believing what she was seeing.

"Can you see—" Jonathan began saying.

"Yeah." Rick cut him off replying.

"Can you believe—"

"Yeah."

"Can we just—"

"No." Rick said as he knew Jonathan wanted to take some of the treasure, but that wasn't what they were here for.

A weird creaking groan type sound caused them to whirl around to watch a decomposed hand burst out of the ground and a mummy began to pull itself out of the ground. Then more and more hands with weird groaning sounds happen throughout the room and more and more mummies appeared before them.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Rick asked.

"Priests. Imhotep's priests." Ardeth answered.

"All right then." Rick said, taking the answer then began to fire off shotgun rounds at the mummies and Ardeth letting loose of the many bullets from the machine gun.

They chopped down a few but more and more began to appear causing them to retreat. Althea began to lead the way as those whispers appeared again, telling her to keep moving and to take a right.

"This way."

"How do you know?" Rick asked, taking a few more shots at the priest mummies that were following them.

"Just listen to her." Ardeth said as he knew Althea was having those whispers tell her directions.

While Althea led with Jonathan right beside her, Rick and Ardeth were firing rounds off at the mummies chasing them through the small hallways.

"There he is!" Jonathan shouted as they came to the sight of the statue of Horus where the gold book should be located.

Althea turn around to stare at Ardeth and Rick continue to shoot the mummies while Jonathan tried to figure out how to get the book. Althea saw Rick used Ardeth's face to light a match to light a dynamite stick, which Rick tossed into the hallway.

"Time to close the door." Rick said.

They ran to hide behind the statue as the dynamite exploded, taking out any mummies that sort of got into the room. The explosion caused rubble to fall down the doorway of the hallway, closing it off.

"All right, up, up. The book should be in the platform at the feet." Althea clapped her hands to which Jonathan and Rick began to find a crease in the platform to begin pulling at.

Ardeth was loading up the shotgun when the sound of groaning from the other hallway opening that led to this room began to show shadows of mummies heading in their direction.

"Damn. These guys just don't quit, do they?" Rick shook his head.

"Keep digging." Ardeth said as he cocked the shotgun as he started to walk toward the hallway where the mummies were coming.

"Oh no, not you too." Althea chased after him, ignoring Rick calling for her.

Ardeth turned to her as he heard Althea come toward him.

"Althea, you have to stay here."

"I am not losing you too." Althea told him in a firm tone, clenching a good portion of his top in her left hand.

Hearing a thud behind them made the two to look over to see that Rick and Jonathan got the piece of platform off and Jonathan pulled out a box. Opening the box, he awed as he uncover what was inside.

"Oh! The Book of Amun-Ra." Jonathan announced.

The sound of groans caused Ardeth to whirl around to take a few shots at the mummies until he ran out. He turned to stare at Rick and Jonathan, who stared back at him.

"Save the girl. Kill the creature." Ardeth said.

Ardeth faced Althea and pressed his lips against hers before he sprinted into the group of mummies, swinging his shotgun at their faces.

"Ardeth!" Althea screamed, but was grabbed from behind by Rick and thrown into an alcove with Jonathan.

Rick threw a stick of dynamite in another alcove by them causing it to blow up and caused rocks to shoot out and take out some mummies that got by Ardeth to come at them.

"You two all right? Let's go." Rick asked and grabbed the two by the arms to pull them out of the alcove.

He moved them to the alcove that he threw the dynamite in and pushed them through a hole that formed into the wall.

"I have to go after Ardeth."

"Althea, he—he's fine." Rick had to stop himself from saying anything negative as he saw the unshed tears in Althea's eyes for Ardeth.

They were in a hallway and began to run down it, but Althea pulled her hand away from Rick's hold as she needed to go after Ardeth. She would not lose him in this.

"Althea!"

"Go! I'll see you outside with Evy." Althea pushed Rick and Jonathan before she ran off in another direction.

Sprinting through the hallways, taking left and right turns, Althea slid to a stop when she came to an intersection. The sound of groaning close by made her to think that the mummies were wandering around searching for them.

 _'_ _Straight.'_ The whisper brushed against her ear.

Sprinting forward, Althea ran down a long hallway until she slid to a stop when she heard a grunt and a cry in pain. Turning right, Althea came to the sight of Ardeth pushing and shoving mummies off of him, trying to keep them from scratching him.

Pulling the handguns out, Althea began firing off shots and watching as the mummies heads burst up into dust. With her attacking, some of the mummies pulled away from Ardeth to attack her.

"Althea! What—"

"I am not letting my future husband do this alone." Althea shouted, reloading the guns and taking out a few more mummies coming toward her.

When she ran out of bullets, Althea chucked the handguns at one of the mummy's head causing it to shake its head and rub it as if it got seriously hurt by it.

Dodging around the mummies and shoving a few away, Althea grabbed Ardeth by the hand and pulled him through the crowd and down a hallway.

"Keep up." Althea shouted as she kept hold of his hand before she slid to a stop.

Bending down to a section of the wall, Althea pushed in a stone. A sliding sound was heard and the sections of the wall started to open up.

"I'm really curious about this voice." Ardeth said as Althea pulled him into this small tunnel that they had to crawl through.

"I hope that you're not claustrophobic." Althea said as they crawled down a long crawl space, but soon found themselves sliding downward.

"AHHHH!" The two screamed.

They slid headfirst down a long stone slab until they were shot out of the slope, slamming onto a pile of sand.

Althea grunted as Ardeth laid on top of her. He groaned from the injuries that he received earlier. Ardeth rolled off her and he laid on his back a few seconds, staring up at the ceiling of the room they were in.

Kneeling down beside him, Althea began to check his injuries to see they were mostly scratches, but Ardeth did have a good claw mark going down his right shoulder that cut through his top. The injury was dripping blood and was being absorbed by his top.

"We have to get these cleaned up."

"Once we get out of here."

Glancing around, Althea realized where they were.

"We are around the area where the preparation room is. I know a way out. Let's go."

Althea helped Ardeth up into a standing position then began to help him down the hallway and toward an opening where the rope that Rick left to climb down was still hanging there.

"Think you have it in you to climb up?"

"Yes, to get out of here, yes." Ardeth said, glancing at her and waving for her to go first, but Althea shook her head.

"You will go first. You are the hurt one."

"I don't need anything to happen to you."

"Ardeth, go now." Althea told him firmly with her arms crossed over her chest, showing that she wasn't moving until he went first.

Knowing that he wasn't going to win this argument, Ardeth began to climb the rope. He glanced down to see Althea climb up behind him. When he got out, Ardeth groan as he felt how exhausted he was. All the adrenaline was starting to vanish from his body. Turning to face the hole, Ardeth helped Althea up and out of the hole.

As Ardeth helped Althea out, the ground began to shake causing Ardeth to pull her far away from it, and dragging themselves across the sand away from the hole so they did not fall back in.

"What's happening?" Althea said.

Althea pushed herself up with Ardeth to start running away from the area as the ground was sinking in, pillars and rocks were falling all around them.

"A booby trap must've happen and it's sinking." Ardeth shouted.

Together they ran out of the city and they came across two camels tied up together.

"Well, this is convenient." Althea said as she pulled herself onto one while Ardeth hopped on the other.

The camels galloped away from the City, but they slowed the camels up when they caught sight of three figures running away from the City.

"It's gone." Althea said as she glance back to watch a huge cloud of dust raise in the air where the City once was.

"It's further underground now." Ardeth told her as they rode toward Rick, Evy and Jonathan, who did not see them coming.

Ardeth reached out to grab Jonathan's shoulder causing him to jump, scream which caused Evy to scream. Jonathan whirled around, only to clench his chest as he realized it was Ardeth and Althea.

"Oh! Thank you. Thank you very much." Jonathan snapped sarcastically as he was scared out of his wits thanks to Ardeth.

"You've earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people." Ardeth told them.

"Yes, well, it was—it was nothing." Jonathan shook his head as he was simply glad to be safe.

"May Allah smile upon you always." Ardeth said, kissing his hand, touched his forehead then flick his hand out toward them.

"And yourself." Jonathan waved his hand around.

Clicking his tongue, Ardeth turned the camel to begin the trek back home. Althea stared after Ardeth before she looked back at Evy, Jonathan, but she mostly found her eyes on Rick.

Rick walked forward and Althea bent down to hug him.

"Go. I know that he'll take care of you." Rick said.

Rick stepped back and saw how Ardeth paused the camel to glance back to see if Althea was behind him. Rick could see the protectiveness in Ardeth for Althea.

"You take care of yourself. Write you guys. I know that I will be at the museum, fixing it up and keeping it up to date." Althea smiled.

"You have to write to us too, especially when you two are getting married." Evy said excitedly causing Althea to smile as she look at Ardeth then back at Evy.

"Not until we are perfectly sure."

Rick moved around Althea to stare at Ardeth and gave Ardeth a stare down with his hands on his hips.

"You take good care of her because if you don't or I hear she's upset, I'm kicking your ass, shooting your ass, and then tie a dynamite to you if you don't."

"Rick!" Evy and Althea shouted.

"What? I'm your big brother. That's what we do. We always watch over our little siblings no matter what. No matter how far we are away from one another, we know we have each other." Rick said as he stepped up to Althea with a gentle grin.

"Yeah, I guess you are true to that." Althea smiled, bending down to give Rick one last hug before she was waving to Evy and Jonathan.

With a click of her tongue, the camel move forward toward Ardeth. Together they began riding side by side.

They were silent for a good time until Althea felt a hand reach out to touch her arm. She turn her head to see that Ardeth made his camel come closer to her. He was giving her a tire grin.

Althea grin back and she lean across to which Ardeth lean forward to press their lips together, happy that they were alive and now with each other.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter.**

 **Long chapter with a lot of scenes from the movie all happening in this chapter. It's the end of the movie part, but the story will continue for a few more chapters to show a post-movie. Plus, the story will lead into the movie sequel.**

 **Enjoy!**

 ** _Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow!_**

 **Thank You!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter:** A New Home

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When Ardeth told Althea about the fact they were closer to the location of where his people resided, immediately Althea began to become extremely nervous.

"What if I'm not likable? What if no one likes me?"

A chuckle escaped from Ardeth causing Althea to shoot him a glare as she did not want him to laugh at her, but rather have words of encouragement for her, or the flat out truth.

"Ardeth, I'm not laughing."

"I'm sorry. It's just that you'll be welcomed. My baba approved of you and I already had a meeting with the other tribes' commanders and elders about you."

"You did?" Althea stared at Ardeth with widen eyes.

She could not believe he had already gone through everything to welcome her to his tribe.

"Yes. They saw how much I wanted you by my side."

That statement got Althea to blush and look away causing Ardeth to chuckle once again, knowing that he was flustering her up.

As the camels came over a hill, Ardeth pulled his camel to a pause making Althea to do so with her camel too. Althea was welcome with a sight of Ardeth's people land. The land itself had trees and a small oasis, which circled half around the camp. It was mostly various tents all scatter about with people bustling about and going about doing their chorus.

The sight of Ardeth coming through the camp, Medjai themselves came to greet him and others too. As Althea rode beside him, many stared with curiosity and she could see some of the people whisper to one another.

"Come." Ardeth told her as he led Althea away from everyone and a bit away from the main part of the area to an outer part where a larger tent was located.

It appeared to have a main tent that had sections branching off of it making Althea to believe that it must be separate areas or rooms inside. Althea had a feeling this was Ardeth's tent as it was the largest one with him being the chieftain. It showed his status.

Ardeth slid off the camel before he came over to help Althea to slide off her own. With her off the camel, Althea felt as if she needed to sit down as her legs visibly shook.

"My legs are about to give up."

"I feel the same." Ardeth said as he brought her into the tent where Althea immediately began to take in her new surroundings.

Althea was right about the small sections branching off and being separate areas, though some weren't and just added space. The tent inside was like a home layout all in one room, separated by thick sheets that hung from the ceiling and down.

Leading her over to a low table, Ardeth set her down on a cushion seat. Ardeth dropped down beside her and he chuckle as Althea dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"I think I'm going to sleep."

"We should wash up."

"Oh we must be a pretty sight."

"Indeed." Ardeth chuckle as he could feel the dry sweat, blood and dirt on him.

Neither made a gesture to move causing the two to laugh with each other. The flap of the tent entrance made them to look over to see an older woman in the doorway.

"Althea this is my mother, Nahla. Maman, this is Althea."

"Oh, this is Althea. Yes, she is a pretty one. I can tell, good personality." Nahla said in clear English though her accent was there and was a bit thicker than Ardeth's accent.

Instead of standing up to shake hands, Nahla waved at Althea to stay seated as it was clearly obvious how exhausted Ardeth and Althea were. Also, by looking at their facial expression, they gone through and witness a lot. Nahla hugged Althea and then she hugged Ardeth before stepped back to welcome the two back.

"I will bring food soon." Nahla said, nodding at the two then left.

"Your mother's cooking sounds wonderful right now."

"Yes, it does. We haven't eaten at all for these past few days."

"Oh my, we haven't. The adrenaline and being chased and chasing a three thousand year old mummy is a workout. It built stamina for sure with all the running we had to do." Althea said innocently, glancing at Ardeth as he was shaking his head at her comment with a small grin on his lips.

They leaned against one another and fell back onto the pillows behind them. Althea felt herself shut her eyes for a few seconds and Ardeth wasn't that far behind as he shut his eyes too. That led the two to accept the exhaustion which took over their bodies and they were soon asleep.

When Nahla came back to the tent to see the two passed out against one another, she gently chuckle behind her veil as she carried the tray with food on it toward the table that was a foot off the ground.

Setting it onto the table, she looked to her right where Ardeth had instantly woken up because of his training of always being on alert. Seeing it was his mother, Ardeth gave her a small grin and nodded his head at her making her to nod back. She stood up from placing the food on the table.

"Your baba was right about her."

"Yes, he was. Getting to know her some more over the years, she was perfect." Ardeth replied making Nahla to smile before she left the tent after that, satisfied that her son was happy.

Ardeth gently shook Althea awake, wishing to let her sleep but he knew that they need to get food in their systems. Ardeth grin a little as Althea groan, not wanting her nap to be interrupted. Althea nuzzled her face into his shoulder.

"Althea, maman brought food."

That got Althea to wake up and stare around with tired eyes.

"Where?"

Ardeth chuckled. He turn her to face the table where the food was. Ardeth sat himself down beside Althea. He stared at her with raised eyebrows as she stared at all the food on the tray then looked at him with a questionable look.

"What's the matter?"

"I noted that you call your mother maman instead of ahm? Why is that?" Althea asked, curious about the reason behind Ardeth calling his mother's title a different language then his people own.

"Because my maman is mostly Persian. She insisted that my little sister and I to call her that."

"You have a sister?"

"Yes, her name is Zaina." Ardeth told her as he began to take the plates off the tray to set before the two of them.

Althea grabbed the two cups off the tray and set them in front of them too. Ardeth took the tray and pushed a bit away from them to give them more room as they began to eat.

"Ah, I felt as if I haven't had food in years."

"I feel the same way." Ardeth agreed, feeling how his stomach was rumbling as Althea and he were trying to restrain themselves from shoveling loads of food into their mouth.

After eating, they had washed up and were dressed in new clothing. As for Ardeth, Althea made him to keep his top off to take care of the cuts and scratches that he had on his top half.

Althea had to resist from eyeing Ardeth's top half as he was well in shape with solid muscles from all the training and fighting he did as a Medjai. There were old visible scars on his body, but what caught Althea eyes other than his muscles were the tattoos that covered areas on his body.

There was hieroglyphics in small paragraph on his left chest pectoral and a few hieroglyphics sentences on his right chest pectoral. There were designs on either of his biceps that looked like the ones on the top of his hands. As Althea began to clean off the cuts, especially the deep one on his shoulder, his back was covered in hieroglyphics tattoos.

"Do you have tattoos covering your entire body?" Althea asked as she ran her fingers across Ardeth inked back in a gentle manner causing him to shiver a little underneath her soft touch.

"Yes, I have a few more on my legs."

"Really?" Althea said as she eyed his pant covered legs as she moved to knelt beside him as she continued to clean out and around the injury on his shoulder.

Ardeth glanced at her in the corner of his eyes and grinned as he saw how Althea had eyed his body and tattoos. He resisted from puffing out his chest as he felt his ego being stroke with his future wife's approval eyes. Then to see how her eyes kept flicking to his legs, wanting to see the rest of his tattoos, a sly smirk came onto his lips.

"You will see them soon enough on our wedding night." Ardeth told her, chuckling when he saw Althea eyes go wide and her face began to heat up.

Keeping his eyes focus on her hand moving around his injury and gently tending it, Ardeth enjoyed how Althea touched with gentleness that he barely winced as she took care of him. His eyes scan over Althea, who was now cleaned up and in a fresh clothing. To see that her skin darken a bit from being out in the desert sun for a while. Her brunette color hair that reached to the mid of her back was drying up and had slight wave to it. Althea was a good height, towering over most of the women that were in the camp. For Althea stood at five feet and seven inches. She was slender yet built to show all the times she had to lift and move heavy objects back at the museum. She had a body structure made to be quick and agile.

When her eyes flicker up to meet his, those eyes were surrounded by thick lashes that made her green eyes stick out. Ardeth felt himself trapped in her stare.

Althea quickly averted her eyes away from him to continue to assess his injury and bandage it up. Althea tried to keep her focus on the injury, but she could feel Ardeth's eyes moving up and down her body.

The time that Althea finished bandaging his shoulder, she felt one of his hands cup her cheek making her to look up at him.

"How did you get your people to accept me?"

"With the help of my Baba and a few elders that saw you before at the museum, they approved of you. They saw the strength to handle any sort of situations in your eyes. They saw determination and found you to be a good fit to stand by my side. Yet also, I wouldn't have accepted anyone else other than you." Ardeth explained, admitting the last part as he caressed her cheek.

A small smile came onto Althea light pink lips and thankfulness was in her eyes. Seeing her smiling at him in such a way made Ardeth to lean forward to take her lips with his own, enjoying how soft they mold against his.

There was a small squeal that escaped from her as Ardeth pulled her to sit sideways across his lap. Ardeth cradle Althea in his arms and he held her close as he continue to peck her lips then dragged his lips down her cheek. There was a small laugh that escaped from Althea as she felt Ardeth facial hair tickle the underside of her jawline.

"We should rest." Ardeth said lowly as he could feel the exhaustion take over his body again and he felt how Althea slumped against him.

"Yes, but where should I stay to rest."

"You can stay where I sleep. I will sleep out here."

"No, no, Ardeth, I can't kick you out of your bed."

"And I can't let my future wife sleep on a proper mat." Ardeth told her softly as he adjusted Althea into his arms and managed to stand up with her in his arms bridal style.

Althea clenched him around the neck and stared at Ardeth with shock as he carried her to another part of the large tent, pushing aside a blanket to enter another part of the tent where there were a couple of chest on the side.

A table with two stool chairs on another side of the room. Only two lanterns hung around the room to keep it dim yet enough to see around. The bed was a couple inches off the floor with various blankets and pillows to make it comfortable yet firm.

Kneeling down, Ardeth set Althea down onto the bed mat where Althea had to admit was comfortable. She felt her body adjust to the firm bed. It was as if her back was realigning itself, which wasn't a bad thing, but rather a good thing.

Bringing some of the blankets halfway up her body, Ardeth rested his left hand against Althea cheek and he stare down at her with adoration in his eyes that Althea felt instant happiness for someone to show such love for her.

"Rest, my lovely green eyes."

"Lovely green eyes? That is a new one."

"It's true. Your eyes are beautiful. Though they are not only beautiful for their unique color, but I see the happiness go through them when you with me. Determination and fierceness when you get protective. Your eyes show emotions that draw me in and wish to read them all day." Ardeth explained softly to Althea as he knelt over her, tracing his left hand fingertips underneath her eyes then tracing down her face to her lips.

Reaching up, Althea pressed her hand against his cheek and her thumb traced Ardeth cheekbone, running over the hieroglyphics across his right cheek. Pulling her hand away, Althea stared up at Ardeth with soften eyes.

"You, my warrior, have a way with words."

"I aim to please you."

"Is that so? May I request something of you?"

"What is that?" Ardeth lean closer to her face, searching Althea eyes as he was waiting for her request.

"Can I have one last kiss before I pass out sleeping in a few seconds?" Althea asked tiredly with a matching tired grin.

"Of course. I wish nothing more." Ardeth chuckled and leaned down to press his lips against her own.

Enjoying the kiss, it was over soon enough as Ardeth pulled away to press his lips against her forehead. He caressed his cheek as he stare down at Althea, watching her eyes flutter as she was forcing herself to try to stay awake.

"Sleep, Althea. Sleep."

The smooth mellow tone of Ardeth soon made Althea to shut her eyes and drift off into a sleeping state. As for him, Ardeth continued to caress her cheek then pulled away to bring his right hand up to his mouth to hide his yawn.

Feeling himself nodding off, Ardeth slowly stood up and made his way out of the room, but not without glancing back over his shoulder to stare at a sleeping Althea. He couldn't wait to be sleeping beside her and hold her in his arms.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was another chapter.**

 **To repeat myself from the beginning of the story, I do apologize if I get any type of information, facts, and/or historical information wrong.**

 **Enjoy!**

 ** _Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow the Story!_**

 **Thank you!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter:** Intensity Rising

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 **A Month Later**

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Spending about a month in Ardeth's people settlement, Althea felt welcome as many came up to her and got to know her. Ardeth's mother, Nahla made sure to introduce Althea to the important people, such as the elders, and some of the commanders that came through the settlement.

Nahla had informed Althea about the fact Althea had a certain vibe around her that was welcoming and the vibe made many to gravitate toward her. Althea was happy to hear this fact since she wanted fit in, especially for Ardeth.

Though for a couple of days during this time, Althea did go back to Cairo to clean up the museum. Dr. Bey left the museum in her name. Therefore, Althea brought Ardeth with her to help fix the museum back up to reopen. Ardeth helped Althea pick out someone to be running the museum when she wasn't around. The one they chosen was one of Ardeth's Medjai, who would be the co-curator when Althea wasn't there.

"Althea."

Althea was in Ardeth's tent when he had entered. He had on his regular attire, expect the fact his top was open up to show off his chest. Althea bowed her head, trying not to ogle over Ardeth body.

"Ardeth, I prepared a meal for us. Nahla has been a great help with helping me cook and make the food better than just making simple dishes. She said I have a knack with cooking and baking." Althea said proudly, which made Ardeth to grin.

The tone of Althea voice made Ardeth to grin because he was happy she was fitting in. Some of his tribe's men told him about their wives enjoying their time hanging around Althea, and found Althea was a woman where many wanted to know and revolve around. There was also the helpful fact that Althea would blurt out random medical information or medicine herbs, which made her valuable to them too.

"I am glad you are enjoying yourself, Althea." Ardeth said softly as he stepped up behind Althea and press his hands against her sides and held her against him.

"Ardeth, do you happen to be cover in sweat and dirt?"

Ardeth bit his tongue as he was indeed covered in dirt and sweat from training the young upcoming men who were to become Medjai warriors.

"Um, maybe?" Ardeth said sheepishly.

Althea whirled around in his hold and placed her hands on Ardeth chest, pushing him back then wiping her now sweat cover hands against his top.

"Ardeth!"

"What? You don't want a hug?" Ardeth grinned mischievously, walking towards her with his arms spread open.

"Ardeth, stay back." Althea pointed at him while she tried to move sideways away from him.

Ardeth continued coming toward her with his arms spread open and the mischief grin on his lips.

"Come here, Althea." Ardeth ran after her.

Althea let out a small scream and she tried to duck under Ardeth hold, but he got his left arm around her waist and ripped her back into his chest.

Althea struggle against him, gently smacking her hands against his chest before laughing as Ardeth began to nuzzle his face into her neck and rubbing his sweaty hair against her. She knew there was no way she was going to escape Ardeth clenches as he was holding her tightly up against his body.

Grabbing hold of his face, Althea pressed her lips against Ardeth lips. The kiss kept him from rubbing his sweaty self against her anymore. Although, Althea knew that she would need to clean herself off.

The position of Ardeth hands against her lower back allowed him to push Althea tighter against him. His lips moved against her own until he began to drag his mouth down Althea neck, and pressing open mouth kisses there. A few nips made Althea to gasp, which Ardeth enjoyed the sound from her so he continued to do so.

Her hands trailed up against Ardeth chest, happy she got to touch his bare chest and feel how solid his form was. Her hands moved up then down his chest pectorals and slid over his shoulders. While Ardeth hands made a bold move of trailing down to Althea behind, where he grabbed a hold and he pressed his lips back against Althea lips once again.

The intensity between the two was becoming stronger as their lips fought for dominance. Their hands travel across their bodies. They tried to keep one another pressed close against each other, wishing to feel what was underneath their clothes.

Hearing talking coming near their tent, Ardeth regretfully pulled away, but held Althea close as the two stare toward the entrance of the tent to see, whoever it was talking outside, if they were coming to their tent. Though the voices walked on by the tent much to the couple relief.

The couple looked at one another with gentle pants. The two realized how far they had been going in their affectionate toward one another.

It made Althea to realize that for the past month that she slept in the tent with Ardeth in the other room, Althea wanted him with her. It was becoming harder and harder seeing Ardeth half-dressed after coming back from training sessions.

Ardeth cleared his throat as he slowly slid his hands off of Althea. If those voices didn't come by the tent, Ardeth knew that Althea and he would had taken it farther than what they were already doing. Their passion for one another was becoming to the point they were searching for more skin to skin contact. For that, Ardeth had a question in his mind he wanted to ask of Althea for her opinion. It had been in his mind for the past week and a half.

"Ardeth, is something the matter? You have your thinking face on." Althea said gently, pulling away from Ardeth to move back to the kitchen area to plate the food she had made for them.

Setting down two plates filled with food on the table, Althea then grabbed a small pitcher of water and set it down in the middle of the table. Ardeth sat down in his spot, eyeing the curry over the rice Althea made before looking up at her with seriousness.

"Althea, I wish to ask you a question or rather a suggestion for your opinion." Ardeth said, pouring them both some water into their cups and setting it down to stare at her.

Althea picked up her utensil to begin eating, pausing as she waited for what Ardeth has to say.

"Yes?"

"There's so much passionate intensity between us. I think that we should get married soon." Ardeth said quickly as he did not know how Althea would feel about this sudden suggestion. He didn't want to rush her into anything she does not want.

Ardeth suddenly felt hotter than usual. He picked the cup filled with cool water up and began taking large gulps to halt his thirst.

"I agree."

A small bit of water spat out of Ardeth's mouth. He did not expect Althea immediate reply to his suggestion.

Ardeth looked up at Althea while his left hand swiped away the water that squirted out of his mouth. He stared at her calm posture as she continued to eat. When Althea looked up at him from her plate, he saw the heavy desire for him in her eyes.

"You agree?"

"Yes, I had been thinking the same exact concern that you had been thinking. I don't know how much longer I could go without having more of you, Ardeth."

His eyes casted up to the ceiling of their tent, blessing above that Althea was thinking the same concern as him, and she was willing to go along with having their marriage date earlier. When his eyes made contact with Althea again, Ardeth saw humor in them as he knew she knew that he was relieved that she was on the same page as him.

Though as of late, the two noticed they were on the same page a lot, especially spending so much time together.

"When were you thinking of the date?"

"Soon, like next week."

"Next week? What about invitations to Rick? I need to have Rick here. Plus, I don't know the customs or anything."

"We can write a letter now, I will have one of my men deliver it quickly. We will inform my mother of our plans to have the wedding next week. If Rick doesn't reply soon then we will push the date back a few more days." Ardeth explained to Althea, reaching out and taking one of her hands into his own.

Althea stared down at their joined hands, loving how every time Ardeth touch her, she felt warm and happy spread inside her. With a simple nod, Ardeth smiled and brought her hand up to press his lips against.

Happiness clear across Ardeth eyes and soon Althea felt a smile creep onto her lips as she realized she would be getting marry sooner than she thought.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was a new chapter.**

 **Not as long as the other ones, but this was sort of a chapter to get across to the point. So we could get further into their lives as the years go by—and also to get to the second movie.**

 **Enjoy!**

 ** _Please Review, Favorite and/or Follow!_**

 **Thank You!**


	12. Chapter 12

*****WARNING: This chapter has sexual contents in it. It is mostly half way through this chapter and from the halfway point, it's the rest of the story. So, this is a WARNING for that. And for future reference, there will be sexual contents in upcoming chapters, such as the next one after this one and future ones. As a heads up, the rating of this story will now change from Rated T to Rated M. *****

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 **Chapter:** As One

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 **A Week and a Half Later**

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After the intense and intimate day, Ardeth and Althea decided to have their wedding in a week. It put everyone in pure adrenaline and panic mode. It caused Ardeth's parents, Nahla and his father, Azim to scowl their son for the sudden arrangement, but they couldn't have been happier about the fact Ardeth and Althea wanted marriage now.

The letter to Rick manage to come back, but a bit late. As promised, Ardeth pushed the date of the wedding back for Rick, Evy and Jonathan arrival. Though getting the three to the camp, Ardeth had gone with a few of his men to bring them. They made Rick, Evy, and Jonathan to promise not to whisper to anyone about the location of their camp. It was a secret and should always be kept as one.

While Ardeth kept Rick and Jonathan entertained, Evy with Ardeth's little sister, Zaina, his mother, Nahla and a few other women related to Ardeth, helped Althea prepare for the wedding.

As the last few days passed, the wedding came to be.

At first, Althea could not believe it was happening until she looked down at her left hand and saw a simple gold band around her left ring finger. Ardeth held her against him as they were being congratulated by many. It was right there and then that Althea got smacked in the face with reality, realizing they had done it. They were married.

It happened all so fast, Althea was in a state of shock yet smiled when she stared at Ardeth, realizing he was all hers as she was all his.

Dancing around at the wedding reception, Ardeth kept Althea close against him as he couldn't take his eyes off of her. With her dressed up in white dress with gold lacing patterns across the edges of the dress with a gold sash across her chest. She did have a veil cover her face until he revealed her at the alter.

Now without the veil on, Althea chocolate brown color hair swayed about as Ardeth spun her around and around on the floor. He ran his right hand through her hair, enjoying the silk feeling.

"Do you think that we can get the word love tattooed with each other's names on our left ring fingers?"

"Yes, we could. I am curious on why though?"

"Because you are a warrior and what if you lose your band. I wish to show our eternal love for each other by permanently showing it off." Althea said softly, staring up at Ardeth with radiant green eyes.

Liking the idea and it was reasonable because of his role as a Medjai, Ardeth bowed his head and pressed his lips against her own then pull back only a little to stare into her eyes.

"Okay, but for now, we will be enjoying each other." Ardeth mumbled against her lips with a smirk, watching as Althea got an embarrassed look as she understood what he meant.

For the rest of the night there was entertainment, dancing, eating and enjoying the company. Although after a while, Ardeth finally decided he wanted his wife all alone for himself. He saw Althea dancing with her older brother, Rick until Ardeth made himself present. Rick gave him a familiar older brother protective look and he mouthed 'remembered.' He mouthed that because Rick had a good long chat with Ardeth in private about if he ever hurt Althea, he will come after him.

Ardeth only nodded then softly took his wife into his arms. He held Althea close as he began leading her away from everyone.

"Where are we going?"

"Tomorrow we will be heading off to go spend some time near the Mediterranean Sea. Tonight, we start our lives as husband and wife." Ardeth whispered into her ear then bent down and swept Althea right off her feet and into his arms bridal style.

Guests that witness this cheered and whistle as they caught sight of the newlywed couple leaving the party to head toward their tent.

Althea felt herself become nervous as this will be her first time doing this. Ardeth knew of this fact. Althea knew he will be kind and gentle, but she couldn't help but be nervous. She was excited yet nervous. The excitement was because they finally didn't have to restrain themselves around one another anymore or sleep in separate areas.

Entering their tent, Ardeth walked straight to the bedroom where he set Althea down on the mat. He then walked over to one of the lanterns and lit it up for them to be able to see just enough of each other in the room.

While Ardeth was doing that, Althea silently stood up and began tugging away the sashes that held her dress tight around her body. Althea pushed the straps off her shoulders just as Ardeth turn back around to face her. She moved her arms enough to allow her dress to slowly slide down her body and drop into a pile on the rug cover ground.

Ardeth felt as if all the moisture in his mouth was sucked right out of his mouth as his now wife stood before him in nothing but jewelry. Althea stood naked as the day she was born, except the sparkling gold jewelry which decorated her body.

The sight of Althea made Ardeth eyes to flicker up and down her body, enjoying the sight of how strong yet smooth her body looked. Althea walked toward him with her long wavy chocolate brown hair bouncing against her body, her breasts moving as she came closer to him and her hips swaying. Immediately, Ardeth felt all his blood rush down south. His pants barely hid his evidence of the desire he felt for his wife.

Coming up to Ardeth, seeing how his mouth was agape and his eyes kept wandering over her nude body, Althea pressed herself against him. She tugged the labels of his top, and kept her eyes on him with a sly smirk.

"Mr. Bay, you have too much clothes on."

Swallowing harder than usual, Ardeth only nodded and began helping Althea strip him out of his layers of clothing. By the time he was only in his pants, Ardeth snapped out of his dazed state and wrapped his arms around Althea. He tugged her back against his body, almost groaning as he finally felt her naked body against his exposed skin.

His lips collided with her own, his hands wandering up and down her back then drifting down to her smooth and round behind, grasping a good portion. Althea gasped against his mouth.

"I must say, Mrs. Bay, you look absolutely lovely with gold on." Ardeth purred into her ear, nipping her ear.

His mouth drifted down and ran his lips over the golden necklace chain with the emerald on it, the necklace he gave Althea on her birthday.

When he pulled away, Althea stared into his eyes. Ardeth began walking forward causing Althea to walk backwards until her heels bump into their bed mat. Before Ardeth could even lower her down, he let out a low mixture of a growl and grunt as Althea slid one of her hands down his pants, grasping him for a few seconds before she was pushing his pants down.

Kicking off the pants, Ardeth pressed his hands on Althea upper thighs and got a good hold. Ardeth started lifting Althea up causing her to jump up and loosely wrap her legs around him. He lower down onto his knees and laid her back onto the mat, adjusting the blankets and pillows around them to be comfortable.

"Let me take care of you." Ardeth whispered against Althea lips as he stare her into her green eyes.

Ardeth was always the calm and collected individual, but whenever he was with Althea and whenever she kissed him, Ardeth always felt himself becoming the complete opposite of his usual presence. His body would be full of adrenaline, and he felt absolute desire for Althea. It was an obsession he had for his now wife.

Kisses were being exchanged between the two. Their hands wandering and making their bodies hotter in temperature than usual. Their touches were becoming sensitive against their nude bodies.

Althea ran her hands through Ardeth thick dark locks. Her head tilt back as Ardeth began trailing open mouth kisses down between her breasts and down her navel where he nuzzle his face into her lower stomach, where Ardeth hope to someday see her stomach filled with their child and/or children.

Dragging himself back up her body, Ardeth pressed his lips against hers again and tongues wrestle each other. Althea's hands wander down his sides to his front where she grasp him in her hold. Ardeth groan against her mouth as Althea gave a few gentle tugs then she let go as she felt Ardeth press himself against her a few times.

The arts of pleasure, Althea had a group of women tell her all about it before the wedding. Even though Althea was a virgin, she knew what sex was all about. Though the women wanted to talk more about it and how to perform pleasurable actions. It was a conversation that had been an interesting and funny night amongst the group of women.

Cupping the sides of Ardeth neck, she pull his lips away from her own. Althea bumped her nose against Ardeth's nose. They stared at each other with pure love.

"Take me." Althea panted against his lips, feeling herself becoming hot and bother.

Her legs rubbing against his hips as she felt herself getting more and more sensitive.

"As you wish, my wife." Ardeth replied, not wanting to wait any longer either.

Adjusting himself, Ardeth kept his eyes connected with Althea as he slowly sunk into her, inch by inch. A low groan escaped Althea at the new feeling. She knew pain will be coming soon enough. At the thought, Ardeth pressed his lips against Althea lips as he pushed himself forward as he came to the barrier of her innocence that he, her husband, was going to take.

Loud groaning escaped from Althea and her fingers dug into his lower back causing Ardeth to arch into her a bit more. Ardeth kept still as he felt her contracting around his member, adjusting to the new feeling and what had caused her sudden pain for a few minutes.

Time ticked by before Ardeth began slowly move to get Althea comfortable with the feeling.

The first few times, Althea winced. Ardeth nuzzled his nose against her cheek and he press a kiss to her lips. He lifted his head up and caught sight of unshed tears in her eyes.

"I am sorry, my love."

"It is all right." Althea whispered while she ran her hands up and down his back.

Althea grasped Ardeth lower back again as she let her legs rest loosely around his strong muscular thighs that stayed in solid form due to all his training and horseback riding.

The pain became a dulling feeling in the background due to the pleasure that began to wash over Althea. It felt as if her muscles were tightening up by every slow and gentle thrusts Ardeth kept doing.

"Faster."

"Are you sure?" Ardeth said through clenched teeth.

When Althea nodded, Ardeth placed his right hand on her hip and his left clenched the blankets underneath them. He began pumping his hips faster, in and out, watching the way Althea's body move from his movements.

Resting both his hands on either side of Althea head, clenching the blankets underneath her to give himself more leverage and to move steadily with a constant pace.

Perspiration coat their bodies because of the heat of the desert air and their intimate activity. Their bodies shining with sweat in the dim lit lantern light in their bedroom. Gasp and moans becoming long and louder as they could feel their releases will soon happen.

The feeling made Ardeth pick up the pace, wanting Althea to experience her release first. Althea mouth drop open, her hands clenching his backside now to push him more into her and small sound of their skin slapping against one another.

"Ardeth!" Althea kept repeating as she felt the tightening in her lower stomach then a clamping feeling as she felt a sudden wetness escape her.

"Gah, Althea!" Ardeth growled, pressing himself on top of her at her sudden release clamping on him as he gritted his teeth as he pushed out of sync a few more times into her before he felt his own release.

Althea clenched Ardeth tight to her as he continue slowly thrust into her, milking out their releases, especially his own as he found his release being long. A final hard thrust into her, keeping his hips tightly pressed against her own as he felt the last bits of his seeds shoot deep inside her.

Panting against each other lips, Ardeth pressed his lips against Althea own and felt her cup either side of his face, pressing her lips hard against his own then they pulled away. Ardeth got off her causing her to wince as she felt his sudden leave of her body made her feel a dull pain again, but a bit more noticeable.

"Are you all right? Did I hurt you?" Ardeth asked her softly, pulling her into his side and press his lips against her forehead.

Althea grin as she saw and could hear how concerned Ardeth was for her. Resting her left hand on his now sweaty chest, Althea pressed her lips against his chest where his heart was. She looked up at Ardeth with soften, tired eyes.

"Yes, I am all right. Only a slight pain for it being my first time."

"Do you wish for me to get you anything to relieve the pain?"

"I will be fine for now, Ardeth. Thank you."

Ardeth nodded and pressed his lips against her head again then pulled away to stare into Althea eyes with a small smirk.

"What?"

"I can't wait to have more of you. To have you like this all the time."

That got Althea to gently smack his chest and Ardeth to chuckle. Though both of them were thinking how they couldn't wait to do this some more now as a married couple.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **I hope that everyone saw the warning at the beginning of the chapter and read through it. It mostly stated that this chapter was the reason why this story became Rated M now.**

 **The warning is not only referring to this chapter, but future chapters (Such as the next chapter) that will have such contents in it. I will post warnings on top of chapters that have such contents in it for anyone that isn't comfortable with reading it. In addition, just to throw this out there, this is a Rated M story for mostly that reason, but also, for swearing in dialogues.**

 **Thank You!**

 **Enjoy!**

 ** _Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow!_**


	13. Chapter 13

*****Warning: Chapter is Rated M*****

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 **Chapter:** Affection

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 **Few Days Later**

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The hotel they stayed in was on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

Althea was curious about how Ardeth afforded this, but he simply told her that he was a chieftain, and being Medjai since ancient times there had been many rewards. Plus, the fact when Rick came to the wedding, he handed a nice bag full of treasure to Ardeth from the time when they were in the City of the Dead. Rick, Eve and Jonathan used their half on themselves. Although Ardeth had been hesitant to use treasure. Ardeth found the treasure to be used for the needs of his people. If there had been an emergency, he would use it. Thus, their honeymoon came out of a different fund he had under his name.

Althea stood in a thin teal color dress with slits going up on both sides of the legs. She stood on a balcony, clenching the stone railing and enjoying the gentle breeze off the Sea. Althea shut her eyes to breath in the scents all around her and enjoying the warm breeze caressing her skin.

Strong arms came around her waist and lips were pressed against the side of her neck. Althea kept her eyes shut as she lean her head back on her husband's shoulder to enjoy how he kept pressing his lips against her neck.

Ardeth pulled away from her neck to rest his chin on Althea left shoulder, and he stared out at the sea with her.

"It's a beautiful sight."

"Yes, I agree." Althea replied softly, opening her eyes.

Her hands came to rest on top of Ardeth's arms wrapped around her stomach.

"We shall come here again."

"Maybe for our anniversaries?"

"That sounds reasonable." Ardeth mumbled against her ear.

Ardeth nudge his face into the side of her head before he pulled back and rested his chin on her right shoulder.

"Tomorrow, we will be returning home."

"Take this all in." Ardeth whispered.

When she moved around in his hold, Ardeth loosen his hold on her. Althea turned around and pressed her chest against his chest. Althea wrapped her arms around his neck and stared up at him. Ardeth bent down to rub his nose against her nose.

"Tomorrow we will return home as a married couple. Husband and wife."

"Indeed, we will both have duties to do."

"Which you do know that I still want to help out…"

A sigh escaped Ardeth with a simple nod as Althea kept bringing up how she wanted to keep being a contact in Cairo. She wanted to continue to gather information for the Medjai, and she would then come to inform him of the information she gather. It had been a long conversation and it got Ardeth's parents involved, who found Althea's explanation reasonable. Ardeth knew he couldn't win the battle and so he agreed with Althea to continue her part of helping out.

"Yes, for now." Ardeth bent down to brush his lips against her own.

Althea let her hands travel over Ardeth's bare shoulders and down his naked chest since he only wore loose pants.

For the past few days on their honeymoon, Althea had adjusted to their lovemaking and she didn't feel anymore pain due to the amount of times they had one another. They had explored each other bodies, mapped out each other most sensitive areas, and what areas caused them to melt underneath each other touch. They had experimented with various positions, and they simply could not get enough of each other.

Ardeth dragged Althea back inside their hotel room to push her gently onto her back on the large king size bed that used to have a lot of pillows on it, but the pillows were tossed off the bed thanks to their previous activities. Ardeth laid halfway on top of her, pressing her more into the soft sheets and dragging the straps of her dress down.

His lips pressed along her bare shoulders and his lips continue to dance across her skin the more he pushed down the dress.

Althea hands ran down along the side of his pants, tugging them down as much as possible. Ardeth helped her out with his pants, and he kicked the pants off somewhere. His lips came back to rest against her lips.

Her legs wrapped around his waist, and her hands pushed against his chest. She twisted them over and sat astride on top of him. Ardeth hands grasped her thighs, giving them a soft squeeze while he was staring up at her.

"Don't think that you can always be on top." Althea whispered as she bent down, brushing her lips across his lips.

"Trust me, I do not mind." Ardeth told her, his hands running up and down her thighs.

Their lips brushed across each other, breathless sighs escaping from them. Their hands were clenching each other, finding a pace and moving in sync with each other.

Ardeth sat up, wrapping his arms around Althea and his hands coming to rest against the middle of her back. Althea still manage to have control, and her hands cupped Ardeth's face. Her lips were against his, holding herself tightly against his own as they were coming closer to their release.

Before Althea could reach the tipping point, Ardeth rolled them over. Althea gave him playful slap against his chest, which he chuckled as he knew she wanted to finish on top, but he took over. The last moments, Ardeth tucked her head away in the side of Althea's neck.

They two laid in the same position. Althea stared up at Ardeth's eyes after he pulled his head away from the side of her neck. He gave her a soft smile before he pulled away and laid down beside her. Ardeth sat up against the bed headboard and held his right arm out, where Althea slid up and cuddle against his side. Her right arm wrapped around his midsection and her legs tangled with his legs.

"Your eyes glow brightly after our lovemaking. I enjoy gazing in them and seeing how bright they get, but also the designs that your eyes have." Ardeth cupped her face, leaning close to the point their noses were brushing against each other.

Althea brought her right hand up and brushed her fingertips along the hieroglyphs across his cheeks. Ardeth shut his eyes as he enjoyed her touch. Althea knew how Ardeth knew how she liked to trace the hieroglyphics across his cheeks whenever they got close. Althea lips soon pressed against his cheek and then she pulled back.

"Well, I enjoy how passionate and determined you become when you set your mind to anything that is thrown your way. Whenever a challenge is thrown at you, you accept it with bravery and boldness. I love seeing how passionate you get. I can always see those emotions in your eyes." Althea told him, running her fingertips underneath Ardeth right eye, touching the smooth skin there.

"The eyes always hold many emotions." Ardeth informed Althea as he held her closer to him.

"Indeed they do." Althea agreed, pressing her lips against his cheek then laid her head down against his chest and stare out the double doors that led out to the balcony.

The couple stared out the doors together, basking in the pleasantness of the trip before they had to return home tomorrow and get back to work. They will have moments with each other back home, but not moments where they could relax at a beautiful place with no worries on their minds.

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 **Few Days Later**

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Working at the antiquity museum in Cairo, Althea was waving at hired hands on placing a new piece which had recently arrived, into the room that contained all the various chariots, sarcophagus, statues and large cases of glass containing weapons were.

The newly recent piece was a set of jewelry. The necklaces and earrings, a complete set and in mint condition. Then there was a gold chest, which contained ancient clothing.

Once the hired hands set the artifacts down with much care, they left the room.

Althea slid on gloves to begin to put the artifacts in glass cases. The clothes were already put on mannequins she had done earlier today. She made sure the helping hands who brought the mannequins in the room were gentle, and they had to wear gloves too for she did not want any damage done to these priceless artifacts.

These items came in yesterday and Althea spent all day observing the newly finds to make sure they were strong enough to be handle, especially the clothing. With the newly found items marked down, the documents filed away, Althea was now putting them on display.

It had been a few days since Althea and Ardeth had returned from their honeymoon. With Althea at the museum and staying in Cairo to make sure the museum was running smoothly, Ardeth had been on guarding duties.

Though Althea knew Ardeth would be coming around soon enough as he had been doing so for the past few days. He had informed her he would not return back to their camp without her.

Carefully, placing the gold necklaces on a model shape of a head with shoulders, Althea gently adjusted the necklace to make it center. The necklace was more than one necklace, but all connected and stayed together on the back where the clasp was. The gold necklaces had rubies and sapphires imbedded in parts of the chains. Then there were two sets of earrings. Both were gold, but had either a ruby or sapphire hanging from them.

Althea slid the ruby earrings into the ears. The other set of earrings, she place in a small stand in the same case and beside the head. They hung and glitter underneath the light within the case.

The case was finished once Althea had set the small information stand inside, which talked about the jewelry set and who discover them. Althea locked the glass case up with a set of keys. Althea stepped back and admired the new pieces to the museum.

"Nicely done."

Althea turned her head to the left where Ardeth appeared through the entrance of the room. He was making his way toward her. When Ardeth got close enough, he bent down to press his lips against Althea lips with his right hand against her lower back. Pulling back, Ardeth stared down at Althea with a grin then averted his eyes to the glass case with the new piece.

"Thank you. How was your day?" Althea asked Ardeth as she walked over to the mannequins that had the new ancient clothes on.

Althea made sure nothing was out of place on the mannequin.

"There were no trespassers."

"That is good."

"Have you heard any words about the City or anything happening around?"

"Nope, it has been quiet." Althea answered as she walked out of the room with Ardeth beside her.

"Good. That is good for us. We can protect the City without having anyone traveling around there."

"You never know though what will happen." Althea told him.

They began to walk up the steps to the second floor to head to Althea's office.

"That is true. I will always keep my eyes open for any sort of signs across the desert."

"And I will keep my eyes and ears open to pick up anything that sounds suspicious." Althea told Ardeth as she unlocked the office and then entered.

Upon entering the office, Althea turn to face Ardeth to circle her arms around his waist. She rested her head against his chest, shutting her eyes to enjoy his presence. Ardeth arms came around her and he held her close, resting his chin on top of her head. Both stood together in silence, enjoying one another's presence.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was a new chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Thank You!**

 ** _Please Review, Favorite, and/or Follow!_**


	14. Chapter 14

**WARNING:** **There is a section in the chapter which has Rated M contents.*****

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 **Chapter:** Xzander

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 **A Year Later**

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Two days ago, Ardeth left the village to head into the desert to Hamunaptra since there was word about a small expedition of curious explorers.

Ever since the incident with the City of the Dead, there had been curious archaeologist, explorers and tourist who wanted to know more about it.

Althea stood in Ardeth and her tent, finishing up with fixing a meal when she heard a commotion outside. The opening of the tent flap open, which drew Althea attention to see her sister-in-law, Zaina standing there with a smile.

"They are back."

A smile came onto Althea lips and she quickly hurried after Zaina to welcome the Medjai men back into the village.

Standing behind the crowd, Althea smile at the sight of her husband leading the group into the village and the horses were slowing up in front of the people. Love ones ran to their significant others. Ardeth stared around from the top of his horse until his eyes connected with hers.

Holding up a right hand, Althea made a come hither motion before she turned her back away to him. Though Althea glanced over her right shoulder to see Ardeth stare after her with much desire.

Whenever Ardeth gone out on a journey with his men, Althea did not rush up to him to welcome him back. Instead, she stood afar to not get trample or pushed around. She usually enjoyed Ardeth coming to her because he usually would pick her up over his shoulder to bring her back to their tent. On some cases it was to the oasis.

This time Althea quickly walked away to go back to their tent.

She stood in the main area with her back to the entrance. Hearing the flaps open, Althea turned in a slow manner. Lips were immediately on hers and hands upon her hips, pressing her against a solid body.

"Hello, husband." Althea said, opening up her eyes to stare up at Ardeth through her dark eyelashes.

"Hello, my beautiful wife who gets the pleasure of teasing me." Ardeth replied, leaning down to take her lips in his.

"You love it." She mumbled against his lips.

"That I do." Ardeth chuckled against her lips as he began to lead her backwards to their bedroom.

Althea put her hands behind her as she brace herself against the sleeping area. Her eyes sultry stare up at Ardeth as he stripped himself of his weapons and then his clothes. She sat up, tugging off the tie to her robes and tugging them down until her bare chest was presented to him. Ardeth groaned at the sight, enjoying seeing the sight of her bareness.

Bending down with his pants loosely hanging from his hips, Ardeth crawled over Althea until she laid flat on her back. One of his hands helped her to shove the dress further down her body until she used her legs to push it off of her fully.

The touch of her fingers against his bare skin brought a shiver throughout his body every time. It sent warmth throughout his body, and he felt as if he sat in the sun all day. The touch of her fingers pushing his pants down, Ardeth bowed his head where his mouth began to touch her neck down to her collarbones and across her breasts.

Pushing up onto his knees, Ardeth maneuver himself to toss his pants off then he was back onto her. He reached out, gripping her by the back of her knees and tugging them up around his hips. On his knees, Ardeth reach out with his right hand to drag down between the valley of her full breasts to her stomach and then down to align himself up with her.

Althea could see this was going to be a very passionate love making with Ardeth. Usually after his journeys, he was still filled with adrenaline.

Aligned, Ardeth thrusted forward to sink deep into her right a way. Althea tossed her head back, gasping out. Her hands grasping the sheets of their bed as she couldn't reach Ardeth when he sat back on his knees. Only her legs were around his hips and her hips were arch up.

"Ardeth, Ardeth wait."

Immediately, Ardeth paused. He felt his body aching to move and to satisfy his wife and he. Seeing his wife panting, but staring up at him with a new found glow to her eyes, he became curious and concern.

"What is the matter? Have I hurt you?"

"You have to be careful with my fragile state."

"Fragile state?" Ardeth dropped his hands off over her hips to press his hands on either side of her sides now.

Ardeth leaned over her causing Althea to adjust her legs around to his lower back. A soft moan escaped her as Ardeth was still inside her. With the position changed, this time Althea could touch him as she reached up with her left hand to cup the side of his face and her right reached over to grab his left hand.

Her finger traced over his wedding band and the tattoo saying, 'love' that peeked out from underneath the ring.

Gripping his left hand, Althea brought it to her lower stomach and press down. Ardeth eyed down at where her hand rested then up at her. The words 'fragile state' over her body and where his hand was placed made his eyes to widen. His eyes connected with her own, seeing a smile on her lips and unshed tears of happiness filling her green eyes.

"You are going to be a father."

Many emotions began to follow through Ardeth. He couldn't speak until he let out a laugh with a smile.

"You are pregnant! I am going to be a father!"

"I see you are happy."

"Happy? Thrilled. Excited. Proud." Ardeth leaned over her with his hands beside her head now and he bent down, pressing his lips against her own.

The feel of her contracting around his member made Ardeth to pull back as he realized he was a bit rough earlier.

"Are you okay? I was rough with you and what if—" Ardeth stop talking when Althea pecked his lips.

Pressing her hands against his upper back and adjusting her legs around his hips, Althea pecked his lips against then stare into his eyes.

"We are fine. It is perfectly fine, Ardeth."

A smile came onto his lips when Althea used 'we.' The swell of happiness and proudness radiated off of him.

"Now, let us celebrate."

"Yes, my beautiful wife soon to be a mother." Ardeth smiled with her before he pressed his lips against her lips to begin celebrating the wonderful news.

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 **Months Later**

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When Ardeth knocked down his sparring partner, he had his sword against their throat to prevent them from getting up.

"Let us take a break."

Ardeth had been training with a few of his men and close friends. His father came over and sat down beside Ardeth on the sand, but chuckle when Ardeth fell back on the sand, panting.

"Son, I have to say even though you are skilled in fighting and handle yourself well, you appear exhausted as of late." Ardeth father said.

Ardeth let out a groan causing the others to chuckle, especially seeing a sly grin on Ardeth lips.

The men knew that Ardeth's wife, Althea was the type of woman when during pregnancy enjoyed her husband touch very much.

"Did the wife keep you up all night?"

"All night, all morning. All day. Where does she get this energy?" Ardeth breathed out.

The men laughed and Ardeth could not help but join in on the laughter.

Pushing himself up, Ardeth shook his head to let the sand fall out of his hair. He smirked at his men.

"Not that I am complaining." Ardeth admitted with a cunning look to flash across his face.

"Nahla was the same way when she was pregnant with Zaina and you."

"Baba! I do not need to know that about maman." Ardeth made a face causing his father to slap him against the back with a chuckle.

"How far along is your wife, Ardeth?"

"Seven."

"And she is that active?"

"Oh yes, very active." Ardeth nodded, running his right hand through his hair.

The men once again were laughing, Ardeth father patting his son on the back with a wide smile.

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 **Two Months Later**

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"Althea." Ardeth pressed his lips against the side of Althea's head.

Ardeth pressed a kiss to Althea shoulder and his right hand rubbed in a circle around Althea large belly filled with their son or daughter. His chest pressed against her backside as they had laid on their sides.

He had felt her moving a lot more than usual in her nap. He laid beside her, and decided to take a nap a well. But he had woken up when he felt her move a little more than usual in her sleep.

Althea aroused from her sleep, and he pulled away to let her stretch out. Slowly, she managed to collect herself and sat up. Ardeth back rested against the wall behind him, and he opened his arms as Althea cuddle up against him. He pressed his lips against her forehead, feeling slight perspiration. His right hand began to rub soothing circling around her belly.

"Your son or daughter is stubborn." Althea mumbled.

Ardeth chuckle as he rest his head on top of hers with his eyes on her belly.

The baby was overdue. Althea with his mother and sister tried various exercise to get Althea to go into labor. He tried to help with the exercise part, and they even made love a few times to help with the process, but there was nothing. Althea had been getting upset of being overdue, and Ardeth tried everything in his power to keep her smiling.

A yawn escaped Althea making Ardeth to press his lips on top of her head.

"You can continue to rest, my love."

Ardeth moved away from Althea as she laid back down with her hands on her belly. He pulled on a loose top, but kept it open as he walked out of the room to head toward the kitchen area. He would prepare a meal for both Althea and he.

When Ardeth was about to finish up, he heard his name.

"Althea?" Ardeth turned away from the plates where he watched Althea emerge from their bedroom.

The sight of her clenching her pregnant belly in her left hand while her right was pressing against her lower back with pain evident across her face, Ardeth knew it was the baby.

"What is the matter? What are you feeling? Are you okay?"

"Ardeth, Ardeth, slow down." Althea said with amusement appearing in her eyes.

With the two of them being their first time as parents, Althea had her moments and Ardeth had his. He was just as nervous as she was.

"What is wrong?" Ardeth hands hovered around her to prepare himself to hold her.

"Sharp pain to my lower back."

"I will get Zaina and maman." Ardeth said, leading Althea back into their bedroom.

"I'm sure that I am—" Althea stop talking making Ardeth to stop walking.

"Althea." Ardeth faced her with concern.

Althea was staring down at the floor, and so Ardeth did too.

"…alright." Althea finished as she stared down at the floor where a puddle of fluid was between her legs.

Lifting her head up, Althea eyes connected with Ardeth, who gone wide eyes then he snapped out of it as he knew what was happening.

"The baby is coming."

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A scream from Althea made Ardeth to stand up from outside and to rush inside, but he was grabbed by his father and one of his uncles. He was tugged away from the entrance with much force and then he was shoved down onto the ground.

"You have to stay out here, son."

"She is in pain. She needs me."

"Ardeth!" Althea called for his name for the umpteenth time.

"See!" Ardeth pushed against his father and uncle hold.

The two older men knew Ardeth was very strong. He was managing to lift them off of him with much strength. The two also knew Ardeth became stronger when his wife needed him. His love for Althea was the most powerful bond anyone has ever witness. Taking it to the extreme to keep Ardeth from running into the tent, the two men turned Ardeth onto his stomach and sat on top of him.

"Argh! Really!?" Ardeth shouted, spitting sand out of his mouth.

"Your maman, sister and aunt know what they are doing."

Dropping his forehead against the sandy ground, Ardeth eyes clamped shut as he heard Althea let out one more loud scream then it was silent.

"Althea...Althea!" Ardeth shouted, struggling underneath the men again.

Not able to move, Ardeth gritted his teeth as he clenched the ground in his hands. He laid there with his father and uncle on top of him until he heard his maman voice.

"Why are you sitting on him?" Nahla asked.

"It was the only way to restrict him other than rope."

"Let him up. Althea and the baby wish to see him."

Being let up, Ardeth was immediately before his mother, gripping her shoulders.

"They are fine?"

"Yes, they are perfectly healthy. Go in and see them."

Ardeth kissed his mother on the forehead then ran inside where he almost ran into his sister and aunt. He gave them both quick hugs then quickly moved into the bedroom where he came to a pause at the sight before him.

Hair pulled back in a braid, light sheer of water on Althea skin due to Zaina helping her wash up before inviting Ardeth in, Althea had a tired expression across her face. But the smile on her lips and her eyes averting down to the wiggling bundle in her arms made Ardeth to realize this was happening.

"Come, Ardeth. Meet your son."

"My son." Ardeth whispered as he moved to crawl up to her side where he sat himself down beside her.

Reaching up, Althea push the blanket down to show Ardeth the full face of their son. A hand underneath her chin made Althea to turn her head to face Ardeth where his lips pushed against her lips and then pulled back.

"Are you well?"

"Yes, he was eager to come."

"I am happy and proud."

Althea smiled, leaning forward to press her lips against Ardeth lips again then pulled back to stare down at their son.

"What is the name that you liked again for a boy?"

"Are you sure? I thought you would choose a name." Althea look up at him with surprise.

"No, I find the meaning of the name you picked to be true. One I wish for our son to live up to."

Althea brought her right hand up to caress the baby boy face, smiling as he waved his tiny fists around then curled them back underneath his chin.

"Xzander."

"Protector of men." Ardeth smiled as he reached out to push the blanket off of their son head to see the full head of dark hair.

"I hope he has your eyes." Ardeth whispered into her ear as he let his right pointer finger caress down the side of Xzander face.

"And if he has your looks, he will be a ladies man."

Ardeth chuckle turning his head to stare at Althea. She soon turn her head away from eyeing their son to stare into Ardeth chocolate brown eyes.

"I love you and our son you have gifted me."

"And I love you and for you also giving me such a gift." Althea whispered as she lean in with Ardeth to press their lips together with their newborn son in their hold.

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 **Hi Everyone,**

 **Here was a new chapter.**

 **Thank You!**


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